A father whose daughter was murdered by a man who was arrested 39 times is demanding answers from Congress about why repeat felons remain free to kill, according to testimony delivered at a House hearing at Charlotte on Monday.

The public meeting, spurred by the controversy surrounding the murder of a Ukrainian refugee last month, had U.S. House members gathered to hear testimony from multiple families devastated by violent crime. The most impactful statement came from Steve Federico, whose 22-year-old daughter Logan was shot to death in May while visiting friends at Columbia, South Carolina. The suspect charged in her killing had racked up nearly 40 criminal charges over the previous decade.

The mourning father said during his passionate statement that he would not rest until he got justice for his daughter.

“When I tell you this story, think about your kids,” Mr. Federico said in pointed remarks during the judiciary subcommittee meeting. “Think about your child coming home from a night out with their friends, laying down, going to sleep, feeling somebody come in the room and wake them, and drag her out of bed, naked, forced on her knees, with her hands over her head, begging for her life.”

“Bang! Dead,” he then shouted before invoking the name of his daughter’s alleged attacker. “Gone. Why? Because Alexander Devonte Dickie, who was arrested 39 … times, for 25 felonies, was on the street.”

“He should’ve been in jail for over 140 years for all the crimes he committed.”

The special meeting was held in the wake of the August 22 murder of Iryna Zarutska. Decarlos Brown Jr., 34, allegedly stabbed the young woman four times in the neck after she sat in front of him on a Charlotte light-rail train. 

Brown, who in the last 12 years has had 14 arrests and three felony convictions, has been charged with first-degree murder, and a court ordered a 60-day psychiatric assessment. He reportedly blamed the murder on “materials” in his brain. His mother told the Charlotte Observer he had been diagnosed with schizophrenia.

The killing, caught on videotape, caused a national uproar and led Republican lawmakers in the state to push for a renewal of the state’s dormant death penalty.

Public outrage exploded after security video of the attack surfaced. Republicans — from local officials to President Trump — accused Democratic leaders at Charlotte and across North Carolina of coddling criminals while abandoning victims. 

Democrats fired back, arguing Republicans have gutted crime-control funding and blocked resources for district attorneys and mental health services. 

“The hearing for me is not really about public safety,” Representative Alma Adams, a Democrat who represents a majority of Charlotte, said, according to the Associated Press. 

“It’s about my colleagues trying to paint Democrats as soft on crime — and we’re not — and engaging in political theater, probably to score some headlines.”

Republicans shot back, dismissing the funding argument as irrelevant. No amount of money would have saved Zarutska or the other victims, they argued, while challenging the crime statistics as misleading.

“This is not time for politics,” a Republican representative of South Carolina, Ralph Norman, representing the neighboring state’s suburbs to the city of Charlotte, said. 

“This is not time for any race. It’s not time of any party. It’s about a time of justice.”