US Attorney Doesn’t Rule Out Civil Rights Charges Against Suspected Light Rail Killer

United States Attorney Russ Ferguson of the Western District of North Carolina said Tuesday that the accused killer of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska could face additional charges.

Zarutska, who worked at an area pizza restaurant, was stabbed to death Aug. 22 on a Charlotte light rail train by DeCarlos Brown, a man with a lengthy criminal history. Ferguson said earlier in the press conference that his office moved “quite fast” compared to normal cases to charge Brown under 18 U.S.C. § 1992, which makes it a federal crime to use a dangerous weapon to cause death or injury on a mass transit system.

“We are looking at every available charge in this case,” Ferguson told reporters. “If we find facts that this was gender or race motivated, we will absolutely bring a federal civil rights charge in this case. If the facts don’t show that we won’t. We’re only going to bring a charge the facts support, the investigation is ongoing, we think we fairly have the facts for this charge, but we will continue to look and civil rights charges are certainly on the table.”

WATCH:

📺 Embedded media — coming soon

“I got that white girl, I got that white girl,” Brown said in surveillance video released by the Charlotte transit authority Friday as other passengers went to the aid of Zarutska, as blood dripped from the knife onto the floor of the train car.