The stomach-wrenching video of a young Ukrainian woman being stabbed to death on a North Carolina train shocked and disgusted observers on X over the weekend. But many conservatives have noted that mainstream media outlets like The New York Times, CNN, the Associated Press, and the Wall Street Journal — as well as the three major networks, ABC, NBC, and CBS — have been conspicuously silent and not reported on the attack.
In the surveillance footage of the Aug. 22 attack, which was made public on Friday, 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee Iryana Zarutska was seen riding home from work on a train in Charlotte when she was fatally stabbed multiple times. The video shows a man, identified by authorities as 34-year-old Decarlos Brown Jr., sitting behind her. The attack was unprovoked. Zarutska sat in front of her attacker and looked at her phone while wearing headphones.
The murder has led to questions about why Brown Jr. was even allowed to sit behind Zarutska in the first place. Brown Jr., who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, has a long list of violent and non-violent crimes on his record, including robbery with a dangerous weapon, felony larceny, and breaking and entering.
Some major outlets have covered the story — including Fox News, Axios, the New York Post, and NewsNation. But the lack of coverage from the aforementioned mainstream outlets has not gone unnoticed by many on X — including Elon Musk, who quote tweeted a post from End Wokeness and said “zero” major news companies have covered the story.
Nayib Bukele, president of El Salvador, shared the same post as Musk and said “You don’t hate the media enough.” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) similarly called out the mainstream media for its lack of coverage of the murder.
Others pointed out the media has not covered Zarutska’s attack, but did closely follow the story of Daniel Penny, the U.S. Marine who was put on trial for putting a belligerent subway passenger in a chokehold in New York City. Penny was found not guilty of criminally negligent homicide in late 2024.
You can read more about the attack via Charlotte CBS affiliate WBTV by clicking here.