By ERIK VERDUZCO and GARY D. ROBERTSON Associated Press
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The man accused of killing a Ukrainian refugee on a commuter train in North Carolina’s largest city appeared in court on a federal count Thursday, hours before the government announced a similar charge against a different man for an unrelated, non-fatal stabbing on the same light rail system.
Decarlos Brown Jr. and his attorneys made an initial court appearance in a Charlotte courtroom on the count of causing death on a mass transportation system. Shackled from his hands and ankles and wearing a jumpsuit, Brown kept his head up looking at U.S. District Judge Susan Rodriguez as she read the charge against him.
Authorities accuse Brown, 35, of stabbing 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska on a Charlotte light rail car in August, in an apparently random attack captured on video.
Brown is also charged with first-degree murder for Zarutska’s death in state court, but federal prosecutors stepped in after growing questions about why Brown was on the street despite more than a dozen prior criminal arrests. Like the state case, Brown could face life in prison or the death penalty if convicted in federal court.
Second light-rail attack
The federal and state cases are running parallel, as they are now for a Honduran man already charged in state court on attempted first-degree murder and other counts for stabbing a man in the chest during a fight last week. The victim was hospitalized.
The suspect in the Dec. 5 violence, identified by federal authorities as Oscar Gerardo Solorzano-Garcia, 33, also was charged Thursday with committing an act of violence on a mass transportation system and illegal reentry into the country by someone previously removed, according to court documents.
Solorzano-Garcia — identified in state court documents as Oscar Solarzano — faces a maximum of life in prison on the federal mass transportation count, Russ Ferguson, the U.S. attorney for western North Carolina, said at a news conference.
“Everyone who rides the light rail is a victim of this crime,” Ferguson said, adding that mass transportation systems “belong to the public. They must be safe, they must be accessible, and they must be free from threats.”
The electronic federal court system listed no attorney’s name on Thursday for Solorzano-Garcia, who is being held without bond in the Mecklenburg County Jail. The attorney listed for his state court case didn’t immediately respond Thursday to a phone message or an email.
An FBI agent’s affidavit supporting Thursday’s charges described Solorzano-Garcia as a train passenger who appeared to be intoxicated. He and another passenger got into a verbal altercation, and the suspect pulled out a knife at least 12 inches (30.5 centimeters) long and stabbed the other passenger, who then received aid from fellow passengers, the agent says. The defendant left the train and was arrested by police shortly after.
Solorzano-Garcia was transported out the country in both 2018 and 2021 — having been convicted in 2019 of illegal reentry into the U.S. and sentenced to 18 months in prison — and has recently resided in Charlotte, according to the FBI affidavit.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a news release that Solorzano-Garcia “should not have been in our country to begin with.” The suspect was convicted in 2013 of robbery in New Jersey, the affidavit said.
Attorneys seek mental examination of suspect
President Donald Trump’s administration used Brown’s case show how it thinks local leaders, judges and policies in Democratic-led cities like Charlotte are failing to protect their residents from violent crime.
U.S. attorneys charged Brown on a criminal complaint in September, with an indictment following on the same count weeks later.
Brown, who remains held by authorities, didn’t speak during Thursday’s hearing.
Brown’s attorneys filed a motion this week seeking for Brown to undergo a psychiatric examination and a future hearing to determine his competency to face the federal charge against him or possibly the death penalty. They say it should happen after a similar review in the state legal proceedings is completed, likely by the end of January.
“Counsel have serious concerns about Mr. Brown’s ability to understand the nature and consequences of the proceedings against him or to assist properly in his defense,” the lawyers wrote.
Brown was arrested earlier this year on another count after repeatedly calling 911 from a hospital, claiming people were trying to control him. A judge released him at the time without any bail. His mother told local media outlets that she had sought an involuntary psychiatric commitment this year after he became violent at home and that he had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. His next state court date is scheduled for April.
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Robertson reported from Raleigh, North Carolina.
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The headline of this story has been updated to make clear both suspects weren’t in court.