President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Decarlos Brown Jr., the suspect in the killing of a Ukrainian refugee in North Carolina in August, deserves the “death penalty.”
A man, whom police identified as Brown, was caught on video stabbing 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska on a Charlotte light rail train on Aug. 22. The release of the security footage over the weekend brought the incident to Trump’s attention.
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“The ANIMAL who so violently killed the beautiful young lady from Ukraine, who came to America searching for peace and safety, should be given a ‘Quick’ (there is no doubt!) Trial, and only awarded THE DEATH PENALTY,” Trump wrote Wednesday morning on Truth Social. “There can be no other option!!!”
Trump and his allies cited the killing earlier this week as evidence of Democrats’ “soft” crime policies and to support the president’s crime focus in cities such as Washington, D.C., and Chicago, Illinois.
“The perpetrator was a well known career criminal, who had been previously arrested and released on CASHLESS BAIL in January, a total of 14 TIMES,” Trump wrote in a statement Monday night. “Criminals like this need to be LOCKED UP. The blood of this innocent woman can literally be seen dripping from the killer’s knife, and now her blood is on the hands of the Democrats who refuse to put bad people in jail, including Former Disgraced Governor and ‘Wannabe Senator’ Roy Cooper.”
Cooper, the former Democratic governor of North Carolina, will likely face off against former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley in the state’s open Senate race next year.
“HE WON’T LET THIS HAPPEN AGAIN!” Trump said of Whatley on Monday night.
Cooper has defended his record on crime as governor and claimed Republicans are trying to play politics with Zarutska’s death.
“Only a cynical DC insider would think it’s acceptable to use her death for political points, especially one who supported cutting funding to law enforcement in NC,” Cooper said on social media.
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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt similarly blamed Democrats for Zarutska’s murder during a Tuesday briefing, saying the media sought to avoid covering the incident.
“Iryna Zarutska should still be alive, but Democrats, liberal judges, and weak prosecutors would rather push a woke, soft-on-crime agenda than lock up violent offenders. President Trump is doing everything in his power to undo these dangerous policies and keep Americans safe,” Leavitt told reporters. “Perhaps most shamefully of all, the majority of media, many outlets in this room, decided that her murder was not worth reporting on originally because it does not fit a preferred narrative.”
