Iryna Zarutska was just another passenger when she boarded the late-night Blue Line train after it pulled into Scaleybark station, just a few miles outside of downtown Charlotte. She wore khaki pants and a dark shirt. Her long blonde hair had been tucked under a hat from Zepeddie’s Pizzeria where she worked.

Like nearby passengers, the 23-year-old bowed her head as the train continued on, absorbed by the phone in her hand. Zarutska, a refugee from Ukraine, had picked an empty row, and sat in front of a man in a red sweatshirt, unaware of the two’s imminent collision course .

Just four minutes later, Decarlos Brown, the passenger behind her, dug into the fold of his clothes and took out what appeared to be a knife. For a moment, he looked back out the window, as if that was all he was g

See Full Page