GoFundMe said it removed online fundraisers that sought to raise legal fees for a man charged with killing a Ukrainian refugee on a North Carolina train after the pages prompted widespread outrage.
The fundraising pages, which described Decarlos Brown Jr. as a victim of a racist and broken judicial system, were taken down and donor contributions were refunded, GoFundMe said in a statement. The action followed the circulation of surveillance footage showing a man fatally stabbing 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska on Aug. 22.
"GoFundMe’s Terms of Service explicitly prohibit fundraisers that raise money for the legal defense of anyone formally charged with an alleged violent crime," the company said. "Consistent with this long-standing policy, this fundraiser has been removed from the platform and the donors who contributed to the fundraiser have been fully refunded."
Screenshots of the pages circulated on social media after video footage of the attack emerged. One fundraising page argued that Brown was "failed categorically by the judicial system and the mental health services of North Carolina," and another read in part, "Raising money to assist with legal fees for Decarlos Dejuan Brown Jr. Anything helps fight against the racism and bias against our people. Thank you for giving us a hand to push against this corrupt narrative." Those pages were later deleted.
Authorities say Brown, who has been identified in court records as homeless and in his mid-30s, has a lengthy criminal history dating back to 2014 with more than a dozen arrests. He has been charged with murder in connection with Zarutska’s death. Police have said the incident occurred aboard a train on Aug. 22; surveillance video released by local media shows a man producing a pocketknife and stabbing a woman.
Zarutska, 23, had fled Ukraine following the Russian invasion, according to public posts and family accounts that were shared online after her death. News organizations and local officials reported that passengers and transit workers were left shaken by the violence. Local transit authorities said they were cooperating with investigators.
Public reaction on social media and among local residents was swift and intense after the footage and fundraiser screenshots spread online. Critics condemned the fundraising pages as insensitive and called for the platforms hosting them to take action. GoFundMe’s statement noted that it would refund donors and reiterated the platform’s prohibition on fundraisers for the legal defense of individuals formally charged with violent crimes.
Police and prosecutors have not released detailed public information about the status of the investigation beyond the charge of murder. Defense attorneys often do not comment publicly while cases move through the court system.
The removal of the pages follows a wider debate about how crowdfunding platforms manage requests that relate to criminal cases, mental health, and community responses to violent incidents. GoFundMe’s policy on legal-defense fundraisers has been cited previously in other high-profile cases where pages were scrutinized after public backlash.
Investigators continue to process evidence in the case and prosecutors will determine whether to move forward with trial proceedings. The platforms involved said they will continue to monitor and remove fundraisers that violate their terms of service.