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Charlotte Light-Rail Stabbing Suspect Charged With Attempted Murder, Held Without Bond

Court records describe unlawful presence following a prior deportation, intensifying a fraught debate over transit safety.

Overview

  • Police identified the suspect as 33-year-old Oscar Solarzano and charged him with five counts, including attempted first-degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury, breaking and entering a motor vehicle, carrying a concealed weapon, and intoxicated and disruptive behavior.
  • The victim, named in court documents as Kenyon Kareem-Shemar Dobie, was found near North Brevard Street and East 22nd Street around 4:50 p.m. Friday and was hospitalized in serious but stable condition, according to the Mecklenburg EMS Agency.
  • CMPD says Solarzano was apprehended shortly after the attack, interviewed by detectives, and transferred to the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office; he is held without bond, must provide fingerprints and a DNA sample, and is due in court on December 8.
  • Court paperwork states Solarzano is in the U.S. illegally and was previously deported, and ICE has lodged a detainer as national political figures, including President Donald Trump, comment on the case.
  • Arrest warrants allege he entered the rail car with a large fixed-blade knife while intoxicated and challenged the victim before the stabbing, which occurred months after the fatal August attack on the same line that killed Iryna Zarutska.