OP/ED - James Zumwalt: After Three High-Profile Murder Incidents, Where Do We Put Our Focus?

An OpEd by Lt. Col. (Ret.) James Zumwalt

Lt. Col. James Zumwalt is a retired Marine infantry officer who served in the Vietnam War, the 1989 intervention into Panama and Desert Storm.

It all happened within less than a three-week span.

On August 22nd, we heard about the murder of a Ukrainian refugee in Charlotte, North Carolina, while she was innocently riding a light train home after work. Five days later, on August 27th, the news reported a Catholic church/school in Minneapolis had been raked by gunfire while it held a mass, resulting in the deaths of two children and the wounding 21 other victims. Only two weeks later, on September 10th, we were informed that a high-profile conservative activist had been shot and killed while speaking at Utah Valley University (UVU).

It seems America is given no time to heal from the news of one outrageous tragedy before it is hit with another.

In the cases of Ukrainian refugee, Iryna Zarutska, 23, the two children killed in Minneapolis–Fletcher Merkel, 8, and Harper Moyski, 10–and the conservative activist speaking at UVU, Charlie Kirk, 31, all arose that day to see a bright sun, totally unaware that the act of crazed murderers would prevent them from witnessing the sun set that same day.

With a suspect now in custody for Kirk’s killing, we are left trying to understand the motives for all three incidents.

A train video leaves no doubt as to what happened to Zarutska on August 22nd. She simply boarded the train and took an empty seat where she began looking at messages on her cell phone. She had no interaction with anyone else around her. Very soon thereafter, however, another passenger, sitting by himself in the seat directly behind Zarutska, fidgets before standing up, taking out a knife and plunging it into her neck. He then walks away.

Sadly, no other passenger observing what happened came to Zarutska’s assistance. The only action taken by any of them was either to relocate to different seats or get off the train. Perhaps we should not question their inaction due to the experience of Daniel Perry in 2023. He is a former Marine who, having put a homeless man in a chokehold after the vagrant threatened NYC subway riders, accidentally killed him. He was prosecuted for criminal negligence for having chosen to assist his fellow passengers but was acquitted in 2024. Today, you are damned if you do intervene and damned if you don’t.

But, meanwhile, a shocked Zarutska bled out from her wound.

The perpetrator, Decarlos Brown Jr., was easily identifiable to law enforcement. He had been arrested 14 times earlier for various crimes ranging from larceny to breaking and entering and robbery. His mother claimed that after serving a five-year sentence for robbery with a dangerous weapon, Brown emerged “different,” his sister adding he had been “seeking help” on numerous occasions.

In his most recent arrest in January, Brown was charged with “misuse of the 911 system,” having made a call claiming a microchip placed in his head controlled his actions. No mental health support was rendered, however, and he was awarded cashless bail.

In the August 27th Minneapolis school shooting, the perpetrator, who killed himself after the attack, was Robin Westman, 23, who had earlier changed his name from Robert as he had been fighting the transgender issue for years. Not only was he a prior student at the school, but his mother had worked there as well.

Westman’s online posts and videos were a clear indicator of his deranged mental state. They should have triggered anyone with knowledge about them to report them to the authorities as a definite threat. Clearly a violence-minded person, Westman was full of hate and resentment against everyone and, as a result, was on a short fuse. He had acquired three guns before the attack and exhibited his diabolical thinking by taking the time beforehand to insert bars within the school’s outside door handles to prevent victims from fleeing the building.

On September 10th, in response to an invitation by a conservative group at UVU, Kirk was speaking on campus–as he had done on so many other campuses as part of his “Prove Me Wrong” effort. This effort aimed to encourage college students to think critically about issues rather than simply accepting the views of their professors and other liberals. Students were invited to challenge Kirk’s political and cultural views.

Anyone who has watched this exchange between Kirk and various students had to be impressed with the conservative activist’s responses. Asked virtually anything, he provided logic to explain why a student’s reasoning might be wrong. Yet his answers were never condescending or angry; he simply applied logic to the questioner’s lack thereof. He demonstrated he was able to maintain calmness, even when the questioner showed anger or tried to demean Kirk.

The last display of Kirk’s eagerness to involve all in his discussions was portrayed by him in the minutes before he was shot. Observing protesters on a nearby balcony, he waved to them to come down and participate in a debate.

If only our politicians could learn from Kirk’s example how to engage in meaningful discussion.

Sadly, shortly after 12:00 noon local time, Kirk’s invitation to openly debate him permanently ended as a gunshot rang out at the Orem, Utah campus. Among the witnesses were his two, now fatherless, children and his wife, now a widow. The FBI has reported that the alleged assassin, Tyler Robinson, has been caught. His arrest followed a tip by someone who knew him after police released a video believed to be the perpetrator. They also report finding the murder weapon--a “high-powered, bolt action rifle”-- which was discarded in the woods nearby. To their credit, many politicians on both sides have condemned the incident.

Ironically, Kirk was answering a gun control question when he was shot. In the aftermath of the Minneapolis school shooting and now of Kirk, activists will continue to cite such killings justifying the need for gun control. However, it is the first incident–that of the stabbing death of Zarutska--that shows gun control is not the answer. Even had guns been outlawed in Charlotte at the time of her murder, a mentally disturbed perpetrator like Brown would have found a different weapon of choice to carry out his demented plan. Such disturbed minds need not rely on guns as plenty of other alternatives, such as knives and vehicles, can be used to kill.

We are creating an atmosphere in America--as demonstrated in the Charlotte incident--in which citizens fear getting involved when others are threatened or even reporting someone who is simply acting bizarrely and could, accordingly, present a danger to society. It is a fear justly created by a litigious society.

So intimidated is the public to act on behalf of others that even good Samaritan laws–which would protect those so acting lest they do so negligently, recklessly, or willfully to infringe on the rights of another–fail to encourage action in many instances. These laws need to be expanded to include the reporting to authorities of potentially dangerous individuals, with the identity of the concerned citizen to be kept anonymous. Perhaps such an expansion of the law would help educate the public that the danger to society lies in failing to report their concerns.

There is an approach Israel’s air security experts have taken over the last several decades to earn themselves a reputation as providing a very safe means of travel. Their secret is not to look for the tool of the terrorist but to look for the terrorist.

As we look for answers in the aftermath of the light-train murder in Charlotte, the loss of two Minneapolis children and the assassination of our beloved Charlie Kirk, we need to heed Israel’s lesson--i.e., it is imperative the focus be upon the individual in question and not the weapon that may or may not be used.