CHARLOTTE — Camden Road in South End was shut down on Monday night as hundreds of people prayed and paid tribute to Iryna Zarutska.
“I keep seeing my daughter’s face in her face and I can’t imagine what that would be like if that was my daughter,” said Addul Ali.
An emotional and tear-filled night as residents packed the area just south of where Iryna Zarutska’s light rail train came to a final rest.
Singing, praying and calling for change.
“The Lord took her in his heavenly arms to take her home,” said Bart Noonan, a resident. “She got promoted that night. But here we sit in a city that is falling apart and the time to act was yesterday.”
For one night it wasn’t about politics. It also wasn’t about her attacker. It was about Iryna.
A Ukrainian refugee seeking a new life in the United States, only to have it taken from her.
Community members and strangers vowing to keep her memory alive.
“Her death touched every human being,” said Rev. Vasily Rudnitsky of Church of New Hope. “Not just people who live in Charlotte but people in the United States, Ukraine and the whole world.”
The crowd help a two-minute moment of silence, which is about the amount of time that passed before someone attempted to help Iryna after she was stabbed.
They are asking the city of Charlotte to change the name of the light station to honor Zarutska.
WATCH: City council set to vote on enforcing police service after light rail stabbing
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