JD Vance calls for stricter law enforcement in NC after Zarutska, Kirk killings
Flanked by law enforcement in North Carolina, Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday invoked recent violence in Charlotte and beyond to call for crackdowns on crime.
Vance called North Carolina Democrats’ approach to public safety “soft” in a speech at an airplane hanger in Concord, his first visit to the state since taking office in January.
Much of his comments, and those from other Republicans at the event, focused on local and national conversations about crime after the fatal stabbing of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on the LYNX Blue Line light rail and the assassination of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk.
“She came from a war-torn county… and because of soft-on-crime policies she was murdered here,” Vance said of Zarutska. “Isn’t that a disgrace?”
On Wednesday and repeatedly in weeks earlier, GOP leaders criticized the court system for its handling of cases involving the suspect in Zarutska’s death, DeCarlos Brown Jr.
“It was the political leadership that failed,” Vance said.
Multiple Charlotte-Mecklenburg and Concord Police vehicles, and risers full of uniformed local law enforcement, sat behind Vance throughout the event. Other speakers included U.S. Sen. Ted Budd, state House Speaker Destin Hall and state Senate Leader Phil Berger.
Zarutska, Kirk deaths at forefront of Vance event
Vance said Kirk’s assassination bumped Zarutska’s killing from national headlines but that what happened to her was “disgusting” and “evil.” He erroneously said the Ukrainian refugee was on a bus, not light rail, when she died.
Asked by a reporter if he’d watched the security video of the fatal stabbing, which went viral on social media, Vance said he hadn’t seen the entirety of the footage and had to cover his eyes during gruesome parts.
He alleged some U.S. cities have crime rates higher than developing communities such as Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and Mogadishu, Somalia.
“We have got a crew of violent radicals in the United States of America who think we ought to make it harder for police to keep us safe than easier for police to keep us safe,” Vance said.
Asked by a reporter about the potential deployment of the National Guard to Charlotte, a move the Trump administration has made in or floated for other U.S. cities, Vance said he’d be open to it if asked by Gov. Josh Stein and Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles.
“If you don’t need the federal help, then why is your murder rate so terrible in the first place?” he asked.
Charlotte reported 110 homicides in 2024, up 24% from the 89 homicides reported in 2023. CMPD said in its mid-year crime report overall crime was down 8% year-over-year in the city, including a 29% drop in homicides.
Violent crime peaked in many U.S. cities during the COVID pandemic but declined in many places in recent years, research shows. Some similarly sized cities reported fewer homicides than Charlotte in 2024, such as 72 in Austin, Texas. But others had higher rates, such as 124 homicides in 2024 in Columbus, Ohio.
Vance also spoke about Kirk’s assassination on a Utah college campus.
“His loss was the nation’s loss,” he said.
Republicans hound Cooper amid Senate race
The event also took on the tone of a campaign event, with Vance and others blasting local and state Democratic leaders — particularly former Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat who is running for U.S. Senate in the state next year.
“Democrats want to let (repeat offenders) out of prison, and Republicans want to put them in prison and keep them there so all of us are safe,” Vance said.
Vance called Brown a “thug” who was arrested 14 times in his life. His previous arrests were a reason not to release him after a charge early this year, multiple speakers said.
Brown served five years and seven months in prison in the 2010s for a robbery with a dangerous weapon conviction. His most recent arrest before the alleged stabbing came in January, when he was charged with misusing 911. Brown’s public defender in that case requested an evaluation of his mental competency.
Brown is currently being held at the Mecklenburg County Detention Center with no bond.
The criticism aimed specifically at Cooper also came from his likely Republican opponent, former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley.
Whatley claimed Cooper marched with “Antifa protesters” in 2020, an apparent reference to the then-governor’s participation in racial justice protests in the wake of the death of George Floyd. He also criticized Cooper for signing an executive order “saying that we need to reimagine law enforcement in North Carolina.”
“I don’t think we need to reimagine law enforcement. What we need to do is enforce the law, and we need to back the blue,” Whatley said during Wednesday’s event.
Cooper’s campaign responded to Whatley’s comments Wednesday with a statement saying the Republican “is desperate to distract from his support for cuts to law enforcement that make North Carolinians less safe.”
“Roy Cooper is the only candidate who spent his career prosecuting violent criminals and keeping thousands of them behind bars as attorney general, and signing tough on crime laws and stricter bail policy as governor,” a Cooper campaign spokesperson said.
Democrats focus on ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ impacts
National Democrats focused on the impacts from recent federal legislation on health care access in their preemptive rebuttal to Vance’s appearance in the Charlotte area.
The Democratic National Committee called the Trump administration’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” the “Big Ugly Bill” in a statement, alleging the legislation “will raise costs, kick 450,000 North Carolinians off their health insurance, and put five rural hospitals at risk of closure.”
“JD Vance has a lot of nerve parachuting into North Carolina after casting the tie-breaking vote on the biggest health care cut in American history. No matter how much he tries to spin it, North Carolinians know who to blame for higher costs and the looming health care crisis: Donald Trump and JD Vance,” DNC spokesperson Albert Fujii said.
This story was originally published September 24, 2025 at 6:28 PM with the headline "JD Vance calls for stricter law enforcement in NC after Zarutska, Kirk killings."
