Charlotte train stabbing victim told man to ‘stop yelling’ before attack
A Honduran man accused of stabbing another man on Charlotte’s light rail Friday had previously been “officially banned” from using the train, a prosecutor revealed in a court hearing Monday.
During Oscar Solarzano’s first appearance, a Mecklenburg prosecutor said the 33-year-old drank a BeatBox wine cooler before yelling at and stabbing his victim with an “extremely large” fixed knife aboard Charlotte Area Transit System’s Blue Line train. The nonfatal stabbing comes less than four months after Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska died after being stabbed on the same line.
Solarzano is in the country illegally and was previously removed twice, according to court records filed in Mecklenburg County and a statement by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
He faces five charges in relation to the nonfatal stabbing: felony counts of attempted first-degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury and breaking into a vehicle, and misdemeanor counts of carrying a concealed weapon and intoxicated and disruptive behavior.
On Friday, he boarded the train at the Tyvola station in south Charlotte and exited at the New Bern station in South End. He remained on the platform and then reboarded a different train, Assistant District Attorney Carly Amatuzzo said in court. On board, he drank the yellow BeatBox and began yelling when another passenger told him to “stop yelling and leave everyone alone,” according to court documents that Amatuzzo read aloud.
Solarzano went up to that passenger — Kenyon Dobie — and yelled directly at him. As the train traveled north, Dobie continued to tell Solarzano to back away. Solarzano “refused,” according to court documents. He challenged Dobie to a fight, the prosecutor said, and Dobie pushed him away in self-defense.
The push landed Solarzano on a seat across the aisle. He stood up and pulled out an “extremely large fixed-blade knife,” Amatuzzo said. Dobie walked behind a pole, and Solarzano stabbed him. Dobie and the other passengers fled to the opposite side of the train car, according to court documents.
Solarzano fled at the 25th Street station, between Charlotte’s Optimist Park and NoDa neighborhoods.
He later admitted to the incident, making several “spontaneous utterances” while slurring his speech and smelling of alcohol, the prosecutor said. Court documents say he had “red glassy eyes” and that the cardboard wine cooler was half empty.
District Court Judge Keith Smith ordered that Solarzano be held on no bond and continued his CATS ban. His next court date is Dec. 30.
Charlotte light rail stabbing victims
Dobie was hospitalized in critical but stable condition, authorities said. He said a machine pumped blood out of his lungs as he posted a GoFundMe from the hospital.
“i am the second victim of the BLUE LINE stabbing,” he wrote. “Luckily I survived but my body has taken plenty damage.”
His injuries came less than four months after the stabbing of Zarutska, a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee.
She died after an August stabbing aboard the Blue Line, and her death drew national attention to Charlotte, its light rail and its criminal justice system. The person arrested in her death had been convicted of three felonies.
Videos released after The Charlotte Observer petitioned a judge revealed DeCarlos Brown Jr. called police in January for help as he showed signs of mental crisis. One Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department officer started to usher him toward taking medicine for his diagnosed schizophrenia when a sergeant shut down the interaction and had Brown arrested on a criminal charge of misusing 911, video showed. Eight months later, he was arrested in the August stabbing.
Local, state and national leaders criticized the magistrate judge who released him from jail on the misdemeanor charge, the city’s train security and Charlotte’s policies. The judge, however, was adhering to bipartisan guidelines on pretrial release. The city said it would add security measures to the train system and state legislators passed a crime bill they called “Iryna’s Law” that added new rules about mental health evaluations and conditions of release.
Friday’s stabbing prompts new questions about what security measures CATS has taken to keep its trains safe for the public. It also drew similar attention. President Donald Trump issued a statement saying Democrats were destroying Charlotte.
This is a developing story.
This story was originally published December 8, 2025 at 11:10 AM.
