(NewsNation) — A Charlotte City Council member believes Mayor Vi Lyles should have thought through her first statement to the media following the murder of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska, 23, on a city train.

Zarutska was killed last month on the city's light rail system while on her way home from work, allegedly by recidivist criminal Decarlos Brown Jr., 34.

Days after the killing, Lyles released a statement that seemed, to some, as if Lyles had more sympathy for the suspect than the victim. The statement did not name Zarutska, and seemed to go to great lengths to say that the suspect was mentally ill.

"I want to be clear that I am not villainizing those who struggle with mental health or are unhoused. The unhoused are more often victims of crimes and not the perpetrators. … We, as a

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