Overview

• Decarlos Brown Jr., 34, was charged by the DOJ with committing an act causing death on a mass transportation system, a count that allows for life in prison or death, in addition to a state first-degree murder charge.
• Federal officials said the FBI has been on the case since the day of the Aug. 22 stabbing, and the U.S. Department of Transportation opened a separate probe into Charlotte’s transit safety practices.
• Surveillance video shows an apparently unprovoked knife attack on 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska as she sat on a LYNX Blue Line train; police arrested Brown at the scene.
• Court records note Brown’s lengthy criminal history and a schizophrenia diagnosis; he is held without bond, has been ordered to undergo a competency evaluation, and is due in court on Sept. 19.
• Charlotte’s mayor pledged increased security on transit as the White House and allies cast the case as evidence of failed local policies, while Zarutska’s family called for justice and broader public-safety reforms.