ALBAWABA - Anger erupted on social media after reports revealed that Decarlos Brown Jr, the murderer responsible for killing Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on board a North Carolina train on August 22, received a fundraiser campaign on GoFundMe.
Brown, who stabbed Zarutska multiple times, including in the neck, was arrested after surveillance footage captured the horrifying incident. Social media users on various platforms were quick to condemn the fundraiser, calling for GoFundMe to take immediate action and remove the fundraiser.
A social media user on X (formerly known as Twitter), "What type of sick human being would already give money to this monster? 😡 GoFundMe should be ashamed."
Decarlos Brown Jr gets GoFundMe page, anger erupts on social media
In response to the backlash, the popular fundraising website released a statement that read, "GoFundMe's Terms of Service explicitly prohibit fundraisers that raise money for the legal defense of anyone formally charged with an alleged violent crime."
It further outlined, "Consistent with this long-standing policy, this fundraiser has been removed from the platform and the donors who contributed to the fundraiser have been fully refunded."
According to posts on social media, several GoFundMe fundraisers were created for Brown. However, upon visiting the pages linked, we were met with a message that read, "Fundraiser not found", indicating that they were taken down.
Iryna Zarutska was a 23-year-old woman who fled to the US as a refugee due to Ukraine's ongoing war with Russia. Before she was murdered, Zarutska settled in Charlotte, North Carolina, and found a job at a pizzeria.
Zarustka boarded the Charlotte train, dressed in her pizzeria uniform, and sat in front of Decarlos Brown Jr, a 34-year-old man who looked visibly distressed in the video.
Four minutes later, the surveillance footage released by the Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) captured Decarlos Brown Jr pulling out a knife from his pocket and then stabbing Zarutska three times, including once in the neck. However, panic didn't set in until other passengers on the train noticed a blood trail on the ground.
While many fellow passengers tried to perform first aid to Zarustka, she unfortunately passed away at the scene.
