Why I Share the Video of Iryna Zarutska’s Murder

A friend recently asked me a hard question. She wrote:

“Why do you keep sharing videos of this tragic death? It’s horrific on so many levels and yes, I completely agree with what you are saying. However, this girl is a human being and her murder should not be displayed on public forums for people to see. This is not a movie. Her life was real. I support your stance, but you are dehumanizing the situation by sharing footage of her dying. What if this were someone you knew? Your child? Would you want footage of your loved one being murdered and dying on all media platforms for everyone in the world to watch? Your public opinion can be made without dehumanizing such a horrific act.”

My friend's concern is sincere. And I understand it. But here’s why I believe sharing this video is the opposite of dehumanizing.

To sanitize or ignore what happened to Iryna Zarutska — a refugee who was ironically safer in war-torn Ukraine than she was in Charlotte, North Carolina — would be to let her memory fade into abstraction. I don’t share this horrific video because it’s “shocking content.” I share it because it was real evil done to a real woman whose life really mattered. If the world looks away, then evil wins in silence. Iryna’s death should not be forgotten and I, for one, will do all in my power to not let evil win in silence.

I share the video to make sure the world sees the reality of what happened — so that people will be motivated to demand justice, so that lawmakers will be forced to restore sanity, and so that others will learn that this evil cannot be allowed to happen again.

My son is the same age as Iryna, and if this would have happened to my child, I would want the world to see it over and over again. Not to sensationalize, but to make sure that the life and death of my child made a difference. Iryna’s life mattered. I pray her death is not in vain, and that good comes out of this evil.

There is so much that can be learned from this video. If we as a society learn from it, we can become a better place.

Where Were the Good Samaritans?

The most haunting part of the footage is not just the brutality of the attack. It is the indifference of the bystanders on the train.

Perhaps the murder could not have been stopped once it began — but where was even a shred of compassion? No one comforted Iryna. No one even tried to stop the bleeding. No one restrained the attacker. Four men and one woman sat in silence, as if she did not exist. The woman sitting across the aisle seems to lean away from the dying girl, while the men averted their eyes. Indifference became complicity.

Horrible!

So much for “love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31).

So much for Jesus’s teaching in the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25–37).

Christ did not tell us to look away, shrug our shoulders, and say, “Not my problem.” He told us to cross the road and help the one who is bleeding (even if they are a different "people group"). What happened on that train was not only a murder, it was a moral collapse of the very idea of neighborly love.

A Tale of Two Responses

As J.D. Vance recently noted on X,

"Daniel Penny prevented this from happening on a NYC subway. Instead of thanking him, many hated him for it."

Penny put himself at risk to protect innocent lives. That is what it looks like to be a Good Samaritan. That's what it looks like to be a hero.

If only Daniel Penny would have been on that train in Charlotte.

But how was Penny treated? He was vilified by the media. Politicians called him a villain. Yet what he did was nothing less than following the Law of Christ.

Compare that to the train where Iryna was murdered. Instead of courage and compassion, there was apathy. Instead of someone stepping in, there was silence.

We should not be surprised that evil grows when we punish courage, celebrate cowardice, and refuse to punish and imprison evil people.

What Scripture Demands of Us

The Bible speaks directly to moments like these.

Proverbs 24:10–12 declares:

“If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small. Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, ‘Behold, we did not know this,’ does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work?”

To stand by idly while others perish is not neutral. It is sin. God sees. God knows. And God will hold us accountable.

As I said in another Facebook post

"You’re probably not going to do the right thing by accident. Prepare yourself mentally and physically for the unthinkable now and your chances of reacting correctly if the unthinkable occurs skyrocket."

And in Joel 3:9–10, the Lord calls His people not to shrink back but to rise up:

“Proclaim this among the nations: Consecrate for war; stir up the mighty men. Let all the men of war draw near; let them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weak say, ‘I am a warrior.’”

Evil is real. It will not be defeated by passivity. It requires courage. It requires love that risks. At minimum, it requires good people to be prepared and ready to fight evil — even if they never have to.

Why I Will Keep Sharing

I will keep sharing Iryna’s story because her life mattered. I will keep sharing the video because people need to see what unchecked evil looks like. This isn’t just a “philosophical problem of evil” to discuss in classrooms. This is the face of evil in the real world.

And I will keep calling Christians to rise up — to be the Good Samaritan, to rescue those stumbling to death, to beat plowshares into swords when necessary, and to say with courage: “I will not look away.”

May Iryna Zarutska’s death not be in vain. May it awaken us from our apathy. And may God turn this tragedy into a catalyst for justice, courage, and love. As Not The Bee noted:

"Fighting the woke mind-virus is the destiny of the men ofour generation. It must be done to protect our women and save our country."

Be strong and courageous (Joshua 1:9),

Dr. Tim Stratton