Donald Trump wrongly blamed Democratic Senate candidate and former North Carolina governor Roy Cooper for letting out the man who killed 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska.This happened during Trump’s speech at the Republican midterm convention on Wednesday.
Iryna Zarutska, a Ukrainian refugee, was stabbed to death on a Charlotte light rail train in August 2025.
The attack was recorded on surveillance cameras.Decarlos Brown Jr.was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in state court.He was later charged federally with causing death on a mass transportation system, which could lead to the death penalty.
Trump is blaming Roy Cooper for releasing the killer of Iryna Zarutska. But the NC corrections department has said the man charged, DeCarlos Brown Jr., served his sentence and wasn't released early, the Charlotte Observer reports. https://t.co/XSxEw9E5RP
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 10, 2026
The case has been stopped for now after a federal judge in June said Brown isn’t fit to stand trial because of his mental health.
The judge ordered him to get treatment to try and restore his ability to understand the trial.
Trump used a common Republican attack on Cooper during his speech at a political event in Dallas.
He said, “Roy Cooper was the governor who released this animal into North Carolina society, and others that were almost as bad.”
Trump continued, “Roy Cooper released people like that — I can’t imagine as bad, but very bad murderers — all over the streets and fields of North Carolina.
Did you ever see North Carolina, how much crime they seem to have now?They never had crime!”
He also showed support for Cooper’s Republican opponent, Michael Whatley.
However, top CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale pointed out on X that “Trump is blaming Roy Cooper for releasing the killer of Iryna Zarutska.
But the NC corrections department has said the man charged, DeCarlos Brown Jr., served his sentence and wasn’t released early.”
Dale shared a February report from The Charlotte Observer, which included confirmation from North Carolina Department of Adult Correction spokesperson Keith Acree that Brown Jr.
“actually served two days past his minimum release date.”
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