Black Men Killing White Women Adds Fuel to Racist Fires

Published September 8, 2025 at 7:30 PM EDT

Decarlos Brown Jr. and Harold Dabney III are both accused of murdering white women.

CHARLOTTE, NC — On Sunday, September 7, Harold Rashad Dabney III (28) was charged with two counts of capital murder after the body of Dr. Julie Gard Schnuelle (59), a retired Auburn University professor, was discovered in a wooded area within the park. Some reports say Schnuelle was "hacked to death".

Two days earlier, surveillance video of a deadly stabbing that happened on August 22 on the Lynx Blue Line light rail system in Charlotte, North Carolina was released. The suspect, Decarlos Brown Jr. (34), was arrested and charged with the first-degree murder of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska (23). Brown stabbed Zarutska several times, including once in the throat.

Dabney and Brown are both African-American men. Schnuelle and Zarutska were both Caucasian women. The circumstances and timing could not be worse for the black community at large.

President Donald Trump, who has already declared martial law in predominately black Washington, D.C. due to violent crime and is threatening similar action in Baltimore and Chicago, immediately reacted on social media, saying:

“I have seen the horrific video of a beautiful, young Ukrainian refugee, who came to America to escape the vicious War in Ukraine, and was innocently riding the Metro in Charlotte, North Carolina, where she was brutally ambushed by a mentally deranged lunatic. The perpetrator was a well known career criminal, who had been previously arrested and released on CASHLESS BAIL in January, a total of 14 TIMES. What the hell was he doing riding the train, and walking the streets? Criminals like this need to be LOCKED UP.”

The Ku Klux Klan's claim of "protecting white women" is a foundational myth used to justify white supremacist violence, particularly against Black men. This racist trope has been used since the Reconstruction era to incite terror and enforce racial hierarchy. 

The murders of Schnuelle and Zarutska will go a long way towards re-igniting those fires.

This story is being updated.