CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Police in North Carolina have charged a 33-year-old man with critically injuring another person in a stabbing on a Charlotte commuter train. The incident occurred just a few months after a tragic event where a Ukrainian refugee was killed in another unrelated knife attack.
Oscar Solarzano, 33, faces charges of attempted first-degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon, among other offenses, following the Friday afternoon assault where he used a large knife, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police confirmed.
The victim sustained a stab wound and is currently in critical but stable condition at a local hospital.
Authorities noted that Solarzano is in the U.S. illegally and had been previously deported. He is being held without bond as he awaits a court appearance in Mecklenburg County District Court.
Witnesses reported that Solarzano, appearing intoxicated and slurring his words, challenged the victim to a fight prior to the attack.
This incident comes on the heels of the tragic death of Iryna Zarutska, a 23-year-old woman from Ukraine who was killed on a Charlotte commuter train in an apparently random assault just four months ago. Zarutska had recently relocated to the U.S. to escape the ongoing conflict in her home country.
A separate suspect, Decarlos Brown Jr., has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with Zarutska’s death.
