I had to let out a bit of a sad laugh when I saw how The New York Times was covering President Donald Trump’s push to put the National Guard in more Democrat-run cities.
The headline/subheadline of the Sunday story really says it all: “Democrats Criticize Trump’s Push for National Guard in More Cities; President Trump said he was considering sending troops to Chicago, New York and Baltimore. State and local leaders say they have crime under control.”
As somebody who’s from the New York City area, has spent significant time in and around Baltimore, and has at least spent significant time looking at both the historical and current crime statistics in Chicago for this gig, I’d like to say that there’s no point in recent years where crime in those cities could be described as “under control,” and decidedly not now.
In fact, the question after this weekend should be whether or not Trump should send the National Guard into more Democrat-run cities to bring down crime — specifically Charlotte, North Carolina, where a 23-year-old woman who fled from the war in Ukraine was stabbed to death at a light rail station on Friday, allegedly by what the media is describing as a “career criminal.”
Iryna Zarutska was found dead at 9:55 p.m. at the East/West Boulevard station in the city, although the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department declined to say whether she was stabbed on the train or even at the station itself in a statement Monday, according to the Charlotte Observer.
A reporter with WSOC-TV, however, said his sources with the police revealed she was aboard the train when the attack happened, although it’s still unclear what the alleged sequence of events was:
Sources: Security officers were not on board the light rail when police say Decarlos Brown stabbed Iryna Zarutska to death.
CATS contracts with Professional Security Services for security and fare enforcement on board the light rail and at the transit center.
As I reported… pic.twitter.com/284AJdMU7o
— Joe Bruno (@JoeBrunoWSOC9) August 26, 2025
I’m guessing a passenger alerted them but we really haven’t heard much from CATS yet
— Joe Bruno (@JoeBrunoWSOC9) August 26, 2025
Should Trump send the National Guard to Charlotte?
Police do have a suspect: 34-year-old Decarlos Brown, who was charged with first-degree murder. The man was found at the scene with injuries of a non-life-threatening nature.
And, in a city where 10 of 12 City Council members are Democrat, according to Ballotpedia, it’s easy to see the portrait of a man who’s been abusing the misplaced charity of those willing to drop less-serious charges against certain offenders. From the Charlotte Observer:
Brown has been arrested multiple times since 2011, according to court records. Charges have included felony larceny, robbery with a dangerous weapon, and communicating threats. Almost all charges were dropped.
He was charged with misuse of the 911 system in January. The charge is pending. Police conducted a welfare check on Brown, who told them he believed a person gave him a “man-made” material that controlled when he did things like eat, walk and talk, an affidavit said.
“Brown wanted officers to investigate this ‘man-made’ material that was inside of his body,” the affidavit said. “Officers advised Brown that the issue was medical issue and that there was nothing further they could do.”
The affidavit said Brown became upset with officers, called 911 to speak with police, and was arrested after hanging up. His attorney, public defender Brianna Buford, filed a motion questioning his “capacity to proceed.”
Yes, one might also question his capacity to be free, as well.
Nor is this a problem limited to Mr. Brown, as the City Council raised issues during its Monday meeting about rampant crime on the light rail system.
During the meeting, at-large Councilwoman Dimple Ajmera said City Manager Marcus Jones needed “to provide us immediate steps that are being taken to ensure the safety of our riders and operators and to restore the confidence in our system,” according to the Charlotte Observer.
“We cannot let fear drive people away.”
Ajmera is a Democrat — as, indeed, over 80 percent of the council is. (This is including the mayor, Vi Lyles, who has a seat on it.)
Councilman Edwin Peacock, a Republican, joined Ajmera but talked about the wider picture of what unsafe cities mean, particularly when it comes to the inability to use public transport.
“I know from my experience of living in Washington, D.C., and having lots of friends in Atlanta that the moment where the transit system starts to become something where it’s not considered to be safe is the moment in which you begin to lose riders, to lose momentum,” Peacock said.
Yes, well, that’s why you deploy the National Guard to major cities. According to Security.org, Charlotte-Mecklenburg has an overall crime rate of 4438.5 per 100,000, 12th among major U.S. cities and fourth among cities with population of over a million. It actually has a higher crime rate per 100,000 than Chicago (4012.2 for the Windy City), and its crime rate is over twice the national average. Meanwhile, the violent crime rate of 733.2 per 100,000 was higher than Los Angeles.
Ukrainian war refugee Iryna Zarutska, 23, stabbed to death during unprovoked attack at a light rail station in Charlotte, NC.
Homeless habitual criminal DeCarlos Brown, 34, charged. Authorities blatantly ignored massive warning signs.#HateCrime pic.twitter.com/OHeRYM0OhZ
— National Conservative (@NatCon2022) August 25, 2025
Residents did not seem happy — and the outrage on social media over the murder of the Ukrainian beauty was palpable:
Iryna Zarutska, 23, murdered on a Lynx Blue Line train in Charlotte, NC on August 22, 2025, by VIOLENT REPEAT OFFENDER!!!
Any comment @cmpd? pic.twitter.com/ec8xgeQzBh
— Uptown resident (@L1569Uptown) August 25, 2025
Same night….just minutes away….
Iryna Zarutska, 23, was murdered on a Lynx Blue Line train in Charlotte, NC on August 22, 2025 at 10pm by this REPEAT VIOLENT OFFENDER!
and NOTHING from Vi Lyles! pic.twitter.com/JwpsphcEXA
— Uptown resident (@L1569Uptown) August 25, 2025
“Right now, the trust and confidence that we have right now, and particularly between South End and Uptown, it’s very fragile right now,” Peacock said, according to the U.K. Daily Mail.
“The story is heart-wrenching, and if, obviously what we’re hearing is true, clearly we need to give that family answers. And we, more importantly, need to give all the citizens who are riding the light rail a lot of confidence that you’re going to be safe.”
As for Zarutska, the sad situation tells you all you need to know: What happens when you flee your Ukrainian homeland to be safe from war, only to be killed in an American city?
The woman, family said on a GoFundMe page, had relocated to the states “hoping for a new beginning.”
“Tragically, her life was cut short far too soon,” the family added.
And we’re supposed to trust big-city Democrats who tell The New York Times they have this problem under control?
If anything, Trump is sending the Guard into too few American cities, not overreaching. But, of course, if he deployed the National Guard to Charlotte, all you would have to do is set your watch and see how long it took for the media to give itself whiplash as it begins to talk about how wrong it is to respond so strongly to the death of an innocent Ukrainian.
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