Iryna Zarutska was a 23 year-old woman who came to America in 2022 to escape her warring country of Ukraine. According to Peter D’Abrosca, Stepheny Price, and Emma Bussey from Fox News, Zarutska was on her way home from working at Zepeddie’s Pizza on Aug. 22, 2025 when she was stabbed three times by Decarlos Brown.
Various news sources have highlighted the mental illness Brown claimed to be facing at the time of the attack. Anthony Blair and Steven Vago from The New York Post published that when his sister talked to him on Aug. 28, Brown explained that he killed Zarutska because he thought she was reading his mind. He also thought his family was being trafficked by the government, and was paranoid about his brain being microchipped. The state of his mind made it unsafe for him to be out alone, especially considering that he has had several other criminal charges, which landed him in jail multiple times prior.
Zarutska was an innocent victim of the situation. She had no relation to Brown, and was simply killed because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. TikTok user with the username sami.cadinaz1 argues that this could have been a case of racism, pointing out that many other black people had been on the train with Brown for a while, but four minutes after white Zarutska boarded, he stabbed her. It is not officially known why Brown chose to kill her, but what is certain is that she did not deserve it.
Kirsten Fleming wrote The New York Post article titled “Iryna Zarutska was fatally stabbed — and no one rushed to help: Have we lost our humanity?” In it she highlights the fact that no one tried to help Zarutska until over a minute had passed since the incident. She sat on the train as blood was pooling from her body, crying into her hands from the confusion and horror. There were other passengers nearby, but not a single one tried to help or even console her, until it was too late. After she had collapsed to the ground and started bleeding out, one man finally stepped up and led two others to administer what care they could. However, it was too late. Zarutska could not be saved. It seems the care for other humans has exponentially decreased, as it took a significant amount of time for someone to decide to help the poor woman.
Olivya South, sophomore at EHS, said, “No one deserves what she went through. America was supposed to be her safe space, but it failed her.” The effect that this murder and others like it have had on the world is clear, leading many to fight for change.
