Shock ERUPTS as 3 key sections of Iryna Zarutska’s story suddenly vanish online — supporters call it a “digital blackout.”
Her family says the silence feels like a second loss, and now over 27,000 shares of the missing screenshots are flooding social media
Wikipedia editors ‘downplaying’ Iryna Zarutska’s murder by trying to sneakily remove article
Wikipedia has been accused of trying to downplay the fatal stabbing of a Ukrainian woman on a North Carolina train after users tried to delete and edited the article.
Iryna Zarutska, 23, died on August 22 after being attacked with no warning by a man sitting behind her on the light rail in an onslaught captured on surveillance video.
She was stabbed three times in the neck by Decarlos Brown Jr, a 34-year-old career criminal who now faces the death penalty after his charges were upgraded to federal terrorism charges.
But a Wikipedia editor on Sunday tried to delete the entry about her death, alleging the incident did not meet the website’s ‘notability’ requirements, The Free Press reports.
The notability requirements, which are written by volunteers, state a topic must receive ‘significant coverage’ in multiple ‘reliable’ outlets before it is eligible to receive its own Wikipedia page.
Wikipedia’s editors are accused of having removed the name of Zarutska’s alleged attacker from the article, as well as references to his race and the phrase ‘career criminal’.
Editors also argued whether the incident should be described as a ‘killing’ or ‘murder’, according to the newspaper.
As of Wednesday morning, the article detailing the Ukrainian’s death is titled the ‘Killing of Iryna Zarutska’. Brown’s name remains removed from the text, but details of his prior crimes are still included.
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Iryna Zarutska, 23, died on August 22 after being stabbed three times in the neck
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Horrific footage captured the moment Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska, 23, was stabbed to death from behind as she sat on a train in Charlotte, North Carolina, on August 22
The article received nearly 350 revisions in just 24 hours and editors debated about deleting it altogether, Wikipedia states.
One editor reportedly argued the article should be mentioned briefly under a transit controversy section. They claimed it was a ‘wrong place, wrong time’ story that would typically only be covered in local media.
Other editors said they were in favor of taking a ‘wait and see’ approach to the article. But Wikipedia ultimately decided to keep the it up.
The Daily Mail has contacted Wikipedia comment.
Chilling footage showed Brown lunging at Zarutska, 23, from behind as she sat scrolling on her phone on a train through Charlotte on August 22.
She was stabbed a total of three times in her neck and hands with a pocket knife.
The stabbing unfolded just four minutes after she sat down on the train. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
On Tuesday, it was announced that Brown has been charged federally in the chilling case, which raises the possibility he could face the death penalty if convicted.
Officials said at the press conference that the federal charges are based on violence against a mass transportation system, which Ferguson said constituted an ‘attack on the American way’.
If convicted, Brown would become the first person executed in the state since 2006.
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Wikipedia has been accused of trying to downplay the fatal stabbing by allegedly editing the article. Editors are accused of having removed the name of Zarutska’s alleged attacker from the article, as well as references to his race and the phrase ‘career criminal’
The attack and disturbing video has sparked widespread grief, anger, and questions about public safety in the Democrat-led city as the nation comes to terms with the horror.
Attorney General Pam Bondi has said that Zarutska’s ‘murder is a direct result of failed soft-on-crime policies that put criminals before innocent people’.
Bondi said she has directed her attorneys to prosecute him federally so the Trump administration ‘will seek the maximum penalty for this unforgivable crime, and he will never again see the light of day as a free man’.
President Donald Trump addressed the heinous crime on Tuesday, saying Zarutska was ‘slaughtered by a deranged monster who was roaming free after 14 prior arrests’.
‘For too long, Americans have been forced to put up with Democrat-run cities that set loose savage, bloodthirsty criminals to prey on innocent people — really, very, very innocent people,’ Trump said.
‘We saw the results of these policies when a 23-year-old woman who came here from Ukraine met her bloody end on a public train.
‘This is a picture of the woman — beautiful, young girl that never had problems in life, with a magnificent future in this country. And now she’s dead,’ the president added.
‘She was slaughtered by a deranged monster who was roaming free after 14 prior arrests. We cannot allow a depraved criminal element of violent repeat offenders to continue spreading destruction and death throughout our country.’
Brown was arrested soon after and charged with first-degree murder. His bond was subsequently denied by a judge and he remains in custody.
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Zaruska’s alleged attacker, Decarlos Brown Jr. did not show any signs of violence or mental distress
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Brown has spent most of his life in and out of prison. He served five years in prison for a 2014 armed robbery and was released in September, 2020 – when he quickly resumed a life of crime
Zarutska’s heartbroken family said on a GoFundMe page that she had only arrived in the US in 2022 ‘seeking safety from the war’ in her home country, and ‘hoping for a new beginning’ before the slaying.
Brown was revealed to be a career criminal who has spent most of his life in and out of prison.
A Daily Mail review of police records found that he was charged with misusing 911 as recently as January, when he told cops he believed someone had given him a ‘man-made’ material that controlled his actions.
He was released without bail and a trial pending when he allegedly stabbed Zarutska to death.
Brown served five years in prison for a 2014 armed robbery and was released in September 2020.
In February 2021, Brown was arrested for assaulting his sister in Charlotte and leaving her with minor injuries, according to police records obtained by the Daily Mail.
That same month, he was again arrested for injury to personal property and trespassing.
A police report from that incident said Brown ‘returned to the address after being told he was not allowed back and kicked and damaged the front door of the listed victim’s residence’.
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Iryna Zarutska was senselessly stabbed on a Charlotte, NC light rail train on August 22. Her family has called her death ‘an irreparable loss’
In July 2022, Brown was arrested for a domestic disturbance.
‘[Brown] was arrested for disorderly conduct. The suspect was yelling and cursing, causing a disturbance and drawing the attention of multiple tenants while on the property,’ a police report read.
Brown’s arrest records go as far back as 2007, when he was still a minor.
Over the next seven years, he was arrested at least six times for crimes including felony larceny, robbery with a dangerous weapon and communicating threats.
According to the Charlotte Observer, most of the charges he faced during that time were dropped.
When reached for comment, the Mecklenburg District Attorney’s Office told the Daily Mail Tuesday it cannot speak about defendants with pending cases.
‘In broad terms, it remains the position of the District Attorney’s office that those who commit violent crimes should be held in custody pending trial,’ the DA’s said.
Brown’s latest alleged crime is his most serious.
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