CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Police in North Carolina have charged a 33-year-old man with critically injuring another person in a stabbing on a Charlotte commuter train, just a few months after a Ukrainian refugee riding one of the city’s trains was killed in an unrelated knife attack.
Oscar Solarzano, 33, was charged with attempted first-degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon and other crimes stemming from the Friday afternoon attack in which he wielded a large knife, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said in a news release.
Police reported that the victim suffered a stab wound and is currently hospitalized in critical but stable condition.
Solarzano is being held in custody without bond. Court filings reveal that he is in the U.S. illegally and has been previously deported. He has a scheduled hearing in Mecklenburg County District Court.
An arrest warrant indicated that Solarzano appeared intoxicated during the incident, slurring his words as he challenged the victim to a fight.
Online records show there is no attorney listed for Solarzano at this time.
This incident follows the death of 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska, who was killed in an apparent random attack captured on video while riding a commuter train. Zarutska had fled to the U.S. from Ukraine, where she was living in a bomb shelter due to the ongoing war.
A suspect in Zarutska’s murder, Decarlos Brown Jr., has been charged with first-degree murder in state court and indicted in federal court for causing death on a mass transportation system.
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