Another one of Ukrainian refugee Iryana Zarutska’s family members has spoken out after she was killed on a train in North Carolina last month, and revealed her heartbreaking final message to him.
A horrifying video of the incident was shared last week, which shows the 23-year-old refugee being fatally stabbed on a light rail train in the city of Charlotte on 22nd August.
Police have arrested a homeless man called Decarlos Brown Jr. and he has been charged with first-degree murder. The 34-year-old has since spoken out from prison.
In a statement after it happened, her family said her “life was stolen”. Now, her uncle has spoken out in a new interview with PEOPLE. When she first moved to the US, Iryana lived with her uncle and his wife.
He described her as the “glue” that held the family together and said: “She was just a very, very caring person. She loved to help people.”
Credit: Iryana Zarutska/Instagram
The uncle, who chose to remain anonymous, revealed he tried to teach her how to drive, but the language barrier made it a bit difficult so Iryana’s boyfriend took over.
In their final messages to each other, her uncle asked how the driving lessons were going and she told him how proud she was that she was learning to drive and had managed to buy herself a car. He said she was so excited about her new life in America following the “American dream”.
“The very first trip that she was going to make after getting her license was to drive and come visit my wife and I.”
Speaking about why she chose to leave Ukraine, he added: “What motivated us to get them out of Ukraine was seeing a picture of them huddled up in a bomb shelter near their apartment there in Kyiv. They didn’t want to come to this country and be a burden. They wanted to come to this country to build a new life.”
For more like this, like The Tab on Facebook.
Featured image by: Iryana Zarutska/Facebook and Charlotte Area Transit System
