About 80 people gathered outside the Charles R. Jonas Federal Building on Monday morning as lawmakers prepared to discuss violent crime inside and a drone watched from the sky.
Members of Congress came to Charlotte for a field hearing following the killing of Iryna Zarutska on Charlotte’s light rail last month. Zarutska, 23, died on the train after DeCarlos Brown Jr. stabbed her in the neck, police said. Her death drew outrage across the country and raised familiar questions about the criminal justice and mental health systems.
Progressive and religious groups, including Indivisible Charlotte and the Poor People’s Campaign, organized Monday’s protest. Speakers described the hearing as politically-motivated and said real solutions would focus more on mental health and funding the criminal justice system, among other things…