‘It could have been me.’ Charlotte light rail riders recoil at deadly stabbing

Holding a clipboard with voter registration forms, Samantha Asbury waited for the next train to arrive at the JW Clay Blvd/UNC Charlotte light rail station in north Charlotte Monday.

The Charlotte native uses public transportation to get around Charlotte. But Asbury said she’d be lying if she said she didn’t have any fears about being on the train in the wake of last month’s fatal stabbing of light rail passenger Iryna Zarutska.

The 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee came to the U.S. fleeing the war her country faces with Russia.

“It was terrible,” Asbury said on her way to uptown. “(She) came here from Ukraine to get peace from the war and moves here and that happens … I just feel so sad for her family and friends.”

The killing occurred just before 10 p.m. Aug. 22 when another light rail passenger stabbed Zarutska several times. She was found dead on the Lynx Blue Line light rail at 1821 Camden Road, according to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.

The murder at the South End light rail station has drawn national attention from news outlets showing video and images before and after the incident.

“It could have been anybody,” Asbury said. “It could have been me.”

But she said people can’t live in fear. “I’m a believer and I just pray … ‘God put your angels around me and protect me.’ ”

And although she walks with faith, she believes more security is needed at stations for the Charlotte Area Transit System.“We need to do more with protecting people because a lot of people depend on the trains and the buses.

‘A lot of violent people out here’

Several other passengers shared similar feelings about the need for more security for passengers to verify tickets and the need of a turnstile system to access the train — instead of an honor system of paying for tickets.

Another concern riders said they had is about CATS and other city officials not being vigilant about people who appear to have mental health issues.

Passenger Paul Miller, who recently moved to Charlotte from Long Beach, California, said he isn’t afraid to use the light rail, but is concerned for anyone who has to experience violence.

“There’s a lot of violent people out here,” Miller said at the McCullough Station. “I just hope it gets better.”

Another rider, Darrell Barnett of Gastonia, called for a more consistent security presence. While he finds the light rail convenient for his commute to work at a warehouse in Charlotte he believes security needs to improve.

Barnett said he feels security guards are not a constant presence. “They jump on and off, but sometimes you just need to stay on the train,” he said.

Before the killing, CATS created a new executive position — chief safety and security officer, The Charlotte Observer reported this month. CATS also began consolidating all of its security contracts to one company, Professional Security Services, in recent months.

On Sept. 22, CATS will ask the City Council to approve a new “mutual aid agreement” with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police to make it easier for CATS security personnel to act on safety concerns at bus and train stations. And the city is looking at a new plan with CMPD.

And late Monday, Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles released a statement saying, in part, that CATS security staffers will be redeployed effective immediately “for a stronger presence on Blue Line platforms and to increase fare enforcement.”

Back on the light rail, Asbury was headed to South End for more outreach after helping UNC Charlotte students register to vote as a member of the nonprofit North Carolina A. Philip Randolph Institute.

Asbury would be grateful for some increased security presence along the way. “Police would probably be too much. But they can get professional security that carry (weapons),” she said.

This story was originally published September 9, 2025 at 5:00 AM.

Chase Jordan

The Charlotte Observer

Chase Jordan is a business reporter for The Charlotte Observer, and has nearly a decade of experience covering news in North Carolina. Prior to joining the Observer, he was a growth and development reporter for the Wilmington StarNews. The Kansas City native is a graduate of Bethune-Cookman University.