The randomness of the fiery attack on the CTA Blue Line on Monday shares similarities to the stabbing death of a young woman riding public transportation in Charlotte, North Carolina.
In the months since, new laws have been introduced and passed in response to that brutal murder. The suspects in both incidents suffered from mental illness and had long criminal histories.
Both of these attacks were apparently at random as young women looked through their phones. In response, lawmakers in North Carolina have created new laws aimed at criminal law reforms.
Seated on a Charlotte light rail train is Decarlos Brown Jr. Moments later, Iryna Zarutska, 23, boards and sits in front of Brown. She was wearing a work uniform, AirPods in, and looking down at her phone around 10 pm on an August night.
Then, Brown pulls out what prosecutors said was a pocket knife, he stands up, and then stabs the Ukrainian refugee several times and then walks away.
Several people ran to try and help Zarutskza. She would later die from her injuries. The suspect had a history of mental illness.
The suspect accused of setting a woman on fire on board the CTA Blue Line train at the Clark and Lake stop also has a history of mental illness that has been a factor in previous criminal court proceedings.
“In this particular case, you had a judge who had a defendant with mental health issues, and also had an extensive, and I’m being generous, an extensive criminal history record,” said CBS News Chicago legal analyst Irv Miller.
Back in North Carolina, the stabbing led to increased police and patrols around public transit.
North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein said that everyone deserves to feel safe, and signed a new law in Iryna’s honor that restricts cashless bail, reforms pretrial release, and mental health evaluations.
“Iryna’s law alerts the judiciary to take a look a people who may pose unusual risks of violence before determining their bail,” Stein said.
Cash bail was eliminated in Illinois in 2023.
Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy posted on social media about both the North Carolina and Chicago cases on Wednesday. He aimed at Democratic cities while saying that it’s his mission to make public transit safe.
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