Mayor Vi Lyles pictured during a campaign event with then-Vice President Kamala Harris, not pictured, at Bojangles Arena in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024. (Allison Joyce/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Decarlos Brown Jr., 34, a man with a long criminal record and more than a dozen arrests, was charged with her murder.
After the attack, Lyles emphasized the suspect’s mental health issues and homelessness rather than his criminal history. Republicans said the remarks showed that the mayor and other Democrats are too lenient toward repeat offenders.
In a statement after the Aug. 22 killing and Brown’s arrest, Lyles said: "Tragic incidents like these should force us to look at what we are doing across our community to address root causes."
"We will never arrest our way out of issues such as homelessness and mental health," she wrote, according to The Associated Press.
Iryna Zarutska was stabbed to death in a Charlotte light rail car. (Instagram/lucaveros225 | Fox News Digital)
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Four Democrat incumbents also won the City Council’s four at-large seats.
Donovan, a real estate agent, had made crime her top issue even before the killing.
Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Michael Dorgan is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business.
You can send tips to michael.dorgan@fox.com and follow him on Twitter @M_Dorgan.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/charlotte-mayor-wins-landslide-reelection-despite-controversy-over-iryna-zarutskas-slaying