President Trump is calling for a “quick” trial and the death penalty for the suspect under arrest in connection with the killing of a young Ukrainian refugee on a Charlotte light rail train.

Iryna Zarutska, 23, was slashed in the neck four times in a six-second, unprovoked attack from behind while she was riding the train on August 22.

In a post on his Truth Social account on Wednesday, President Trump referred to the suspect, Decarlos Brown Jr., as an “animal” who should face a quick trial and the death penalty. “There can be no other option!!!” Mr. Trump stated.

Vice President JD Vance has also been vocal about the case on social media. He posted a photo on X of Zarutska in the moments after the attack and said, “Daniel Penny prevented this from happening on a NYC subway. Instead of thanking him, many hated him for it.”

Mr. Penny is a Marine veteran who was acquitted by a jury after he was charged with manslaughter and negligent homicide in the death of a homeless Michael Jackson impersonator after he put him in a chokehold on a subway train last year. Mr. Penny was tried in a high-profile and racially charged case with prominent conservatives backing him and donating to his defense.

After North Carolina’s governor, Roy Cooper, complained of the recent murder being used for “political points,” Mr. Vance responded, “Law enforcement arrested this thug 14 times. It wasn’t law enforcement that failed. It was weak politicians like you who kept letting him out of prison.”

“The big lie the Democrats told about violent crime is that it’s ‘systemic’ and therefore no one’s really responsible. If the ‘system’ is to blame then you fund a bunch of nonprofits that don’t do anything besides give jobs to underqualified radicals,” Mr. Vance wrote in another post on Tuesday.

“The reality is that the gross majority of violent crime is committed by a very small group of people and we should be throwing them in prison,” Mr. Vance went on to say.

Brown has a criminal record that stretches back to before he was an adult. He spent more than five years in prison for armed robbery before his release in 2020. Brown’s criminal career includes convictions for felony larceny, breaking and entering, and shoplifting, according to North Carolina prison system records.

Brown has a known history of mental illness and his mother says the court should have never let him out in the community after a prior arrest earlier in the year.

The suspect was quickly arrested after the murder but the case was not widely reported until the transit system released a video of the incident last week and it became a trending topic on social media. Conservatives are citing the case as another example of Democratic cities sweeping crime under the rug.

On Tuesday, other videos of the attack and the reaction from other riders started circulating online. One of the videos shows Zarutska grabbing her neck after the attack with several other passengers seated near her. No one immediately comes to her aid as she briefly looks around before covering her face. Two passengers rush away from the scene and two people don’t react at all. The video ends as another passenger starts to stand up and look at the dying victim.

Another, longer video does not show the other passenger but shows Zarutska slumping to the floor of the train car as she passes out. No other passengers are seen coming to her aid before the video ends.