Decarlos Dejuan Brown Jr.  acted “with malice aforethought” when he fatally stabbed Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska at Charlotte, North Carolina, according to a grand jury that has indicted him on first-degree murder charges.

The indictment, which became public this week, alleges that Brown unlawfully and intentionally killed Ms. Zarutska on a light rail train in what is described as a random act of violence.

“With malice aforethought” is a legal term used in North Carolina to signify that a murder was committed deliberately and with the intent to kill. The indictment was filed last week in the U.S. District Court at Mecklenburg County but became public only on Wednesday.

The indictment cites multiple officers with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department as witnesses, reflecting the large scope of the investigation. Authorities are quoted saying Brown’s swift arrest was facilitated by surveillance video of the attack.

The court has ordered a complete a 60-day psychiatric assessment at a regional medical facility for Brown, who has faced 14 arrests in the last 12 years and has a documented history of mental health challenges. 

Magistrate Judge Teresa Stokes has said his competency to stand trial remains uncertain, despite previous local evaluations. The new assessment will establish whether he is mentally fit to face trial.

Brown’s mother, Michelle Dewitt, recently told the Charlotte Observer that her son has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and that the family has struggled to get him help.

Referring to the relatives of the victim, Ms. Dewitt said, “I hope and pray that one day they find it in their heart to forgive my son, and that they realize that I am praying for their family.”

Late last month, Brown told his sister, Tracy Brown, that he killed Ms. Zarutska because of government-implanted “materials” lodged in his brain.

“The material. Put it like that. The material using my body. It’s that. You know, that’s not me,” Brown says in the jailhouse phone conversation recorded by Ms. Brown and provided to the Daily Mail.

“I’m talking about just for no reason. But since they did that, since they did that, now they got to investigate the material my body exposed to. Since they want to do all that, now they got to investigate.”

Brown told his sister that the government was in control of his actions when he pulled a knife on an unsuspecting Zarutska and slashed her to death on August 22.

“I hurt my hand, stabbing her. I don’t even know the lady,” he said in the recording. “I never said not one word to the lady at all. That’s scary, ain’t it. Why would somebody stab somebody for no reason?”