Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police have released body-camera footage showing the increasingly erratic behavior of Decarlos Brown, the man later charged with killing Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska.
The footage, recorded during a welfare check in January 2025, captures Brown in a highly agitated state, yelling to officers that he believed a mysterious foreign substance had been placed inside his body. Brown had called 911 at least twice that night, repeatedly insisting that a “man-made material” was affecting him.
When an officer asked whether he had ever been diagnosed with a medical condition, Brown responded that someone had attempted to diagnose him with schizophrenia, but he rejected the idea. Asked if he was taking any medication, he told officers he was not and questioned why he would take medicine if he believed his body had been exposed to something artificial.
Months later, in August, Brown fatally attacked Zarutska on a Charlotte light-rail train. Video from the incident shows Zarutska seated and using her phone before Brown suddenly lunged at her. After the attack, he walked away as stunned passengers failed to intervene.
Brown’s criminal history spans back to 2007. Despite his record, Magistrate Judge Teresa Stokes had previously released him on the condition that he promised to return to court.
A federal grand jury has since indicted Brown, and the charges he now faces make him eligible for the death penalty.