Irish entrepreneur Eoghan McCabe has already raised millions of dollars in support for a fund he established to offer grants to paint murals of the face of Iryna Zarutska, the woman murdered on a train in Charlotte, North Carolina, in prominent US city locations
A shocking video of Ms Zarutska being repeatedly stabbed as she sat on the train by killer Decarlos Brown Jr., who was not known to her, has attracted widespread attention both in the U.S. and internationally, and led to calls for renewed scrutiny of both urban crime and sentencing, and for accountability from lawmakers.
The Ukrainian woman bled to death following the attack, which saw U.S. President Donald Trump demand the death penalty for her attacker, and commentators call for accountability from North Carolina lawmakers.
Brown (34) was arrested on Aug. 22 after he fatally stabbed 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska, who was a refugee from the war in her country, and was charged by the U.S. Attorney’s Office with committing an act causing death on a mass transportation system.
McCabe, who founded the software company Intercom, said he was offering $500k in $10k grants to ensure the murals went ahead, but soon saw the funding effort boosted by a pledge of a million dollars from tech billionaire Elon Musk.
A GiveSendGo campaign supporting the murals reads: “We will install as many posters and murals across this great nation as funds afford so that the important conversations her slaying provokes may perpetuate and drive much-needed change.”
This afternoon, Mr McCabe said that the fund had raised now enough for nearly 300 murals and that they were in touch with 800 interested artists. “We’ll start to commission work in a few days,” he added.
The suspect in Ms Zarutska’s murder has a lengthy criminal record , and has previously spent more than five years behind bars for robbery with a dangerous weapon. He also has a documented history of mental illness.
There have also been calls for the North Carolina judge who released Brown removed from the bench with ten Republican House members from North Carolina signing a letter demanding that Magistrate Judge Teresa Stokes be removed for her “reckless” decision to release the suspect on cashless bail despite being aware of his lengthy criminal history and mental health issues. The lawmakers said the ruling to free Brown had “devastating consequences”.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi posted on X, “Iryna Zarutska was a young woman living the American dream—her horrific murder is a direct result of failed soft-on-crime policies that put criminals before innocent people. I have directed my attorneys to federally prosecute DeCarlos Brown Jr., a repeat violent offender with a history of violent crime, for murder. We will seek the maximum penalty for this unforgivable crime, and he will never again see the light of day as a free man.”
Meanwhile a Go Fund Me page to raise funds for the victim’s family has attracted donations in excess of $260,000.