Charlotte Light-Rail Stabbing: State Case Paused After Suspect Ruled Incompetent While Federal Prosecutors Pursue Separate Case
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Decarlos Brown, accused in the August 2025 killing of Ukrainian refugee and nurse's aide Iryna Zarutska on a Charlotte light-rail train, was found incompetent to stand trial by a Central Regional Hospital evaluation, effectively pausing the North Carolina state prosecution and raising the prospect of long-term psychiatric custody. Federal prosecutors say that ruling is separate, have kept Brown in federal custody and will pursue a separate federal competency determination even as reporting highlights his long history of schizophrenia, prior hospitalizations and repeated claims of "mind control."