Decarlos Brown Jr., the suspect accused of murdering Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on a North Carolina train, was free on a cashless bond prior when the incident took place.

Brown, 34, was freed after a magistrate released him with just a "written promise" to appear in court, despite having been arrested at least 14 times in North Carolina since 2007. The suspect's mother told WSOC that her son, who is homeless, was schizophrenic and shouldn't have ever been freed prior to stabbing Zarutska, 23, to death.

Surveillance video shows a man identified as Brown pulling out a pocket knife and stabbing Zarutska in the neck. Brown was charged with murder and is currently being held in Mecklenburg County Jail without bond.

GoFundMe has pulled multiple fundraisers intended to help Brown amid outrage.

“GoFundMe’s Terms of Service explicitly prohibit fundraisers that raise money for the legal defense of anyone formally charged with an alleged violent crime,” GoFundMe said in a statement shared by the New York Post. “Consistent with this long-standing policy, this fundraiser has been removed from the platform and the donors who contributed to the fundraiser have been fully refunded.”

The fundraisers suggested that Brown was the victim of a racist, broken judicial system prior to stabbing Zarutska.

“While what happened on the Blue Line was a tragedy, what we mustn’t lose sight of is the fact that Decarlos Brown Jr. was failed categorically by the judicial system and the mental health services of North Carolina, and as such is not entirely to blame for what happened,” one page on the since-deleted fundraiser claimed.

“Raising money to assist with legal fees for Decarlos Dejuan Brown Jr. Anything helps fight against the racism and bias against our people. Thank you for giving us a hand to push against this corrupt narrative,” another since-deleted fundraiser stated.

Screenshots of the fundraisers were shared on social media, sparking outrage.

Mandy Connell