The fatal stabbing of a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee in Charlotte, North Carolina, has become a political flashpoint as US President Donald Trump uses the case to justify potential deployments of the National Guard and other federal forces to Democratic-led cities.
Stabbing in Charlotte, North Carolina
On Aug. 22, Iryna Zarutska was sitting quietly on a Charlotte New Light Rail train when a man attacked her from behind, according to security footage. The attack was unprovoked.
Zarutska, who fled Ukraine with her family in 2022 following Russia’s full-scale invasion, was killed.
The suspect, identified as 34-year-old Decarlos Brown, had multiple prior convictions, including eight years in prison for armed robbery, and early reports indicate he has a history of mental illness. Brown has been charged with first-degree murder.
The murder received limited national attention initially, but it recently surged in visibility after Republican lawmakers and far-right influencers promoted CCTV footage of the attack.
Washington deployment sets the precedent
Before linking the Charlotte stabbing to broader actions, Trump had already sent 2,200 National Guard soldiers to Washington DC on Aug.11, declaring a “public safety emergency.”
He claimed the city faced “complete and total lawlessness” and took control of parts of the city’s police operations.
Mayor Muriel Bowser rejected Trump’s claims, noting that violent crime in Washington is at a 30-year low and overall crime has fallen since 2023.
Charlotte stabbing as political justification
Trump has used Zarutska’s death to justify expanding his National Guard deployments to other cities, arguing that Democratic leaders cannot manage crime effectively.
He repeatedly referenced the Charlotte attack on social media, calling the suspect a “career criminal” and blaming Democrats for failing to enforce the law.
“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. North Carolina, and every State, needs LAW AND ORDER, and only Republicans will deliver it!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social account.
Trump is now considering sending troops to cities such as Chicago and Baltimore.
On Sept. 4, he said, “We’re going in,” but has not provided a timeframe. While the Department of Homeland Security announced a deportation operation in Illinois, it is not the large-scale National Guard crackdown Trump described.
AFP points out that the cities he targets – including Chicago and Washington DC – are Democratic strongholds where he lost in 2024, while the nation’s most violent cities per capita, such as New Orleans, Memphis, and St. Louis, are in Republican states and have not received the same federal attention.
Trump said Chicago will soon learn “Why we call it the Department of War,” referring to his proposed name change for the Department of Defense.
He posted a photo of helicopters over the city with flames in the background, referencing the Vietnam War film Apocalypse Now in which actor Robert Duvall’s character delivers the famous line: “I love the smell of napalm in the morning.”
Trump’s approach ignited fury in Illinois. On Sept. 6, thousands of protesters marched in downtown Chicago after he shared the social media post.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker called the message “abnormal,” saying it amounted to a threat to “go to war” with a US city.
“The President of the United States is threatening to go to war with an American city. This is not a joke,” Pritzker wrote in a post on X on Saturday.
Local leaders have vowed to take the Trump administration to court if federal forces are deployed.