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A twice-deported Honduran man linked to the stabbing of a passenger on a Charlotte, North Carolina, light rail train has been federally charged, the Justice Department said Thursday.
Oscar Gerardo Solorzano-Garcia, 33, is charged with one count of illegal reentry by a removed alien and one count of committing an act of violence on a mass transportation system.
“An individual who was deported twice, convicted of violent crimes, and repeatedly reentered our country illegally had no business being on a public train in Charlotte, or anywhere near American citizens,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “What happened on that light rail is exactly what occurs when our borders are treated like suggestions instead of laws.”
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“The FBI will continue to work with our local partners to remove violent offenders from our communities, but Americans should never have been put at risk by someone who should not have been here in the first place,” he added. “Our priority is simple: protect the public, enforce the law, and make sure criminals like this are met with swift and decisive justice.”
Solorzano, who has a violent criminal history in the United States, was deported in March 2018 before illegally reentering through the southern border in Texas in March 2021, Fox News Digital previously reported.
He was deported a second time by the Biden administration and reentered illegally as a “got-away” at an unknown time and location.
Solorzano was arrested last week after allegedly stabbing Kenyon Kareem-Shemar Dobie on the light rail system during an argument. Prior to the Dec. 5 attack, he allegedly broke into a railroad car “with the intent to commit a felony” while carrying a large fixed-blade knife, authorities said.
While intoxicated, he challenged Dobie to a fight, cursing and shouting at others and using “unintelligible and slurred words,” according to court documents.
He was arrested by responding Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers as he walked away from the scene. Dobie was taken to a hospital with a stab wound to the upper left chest and survived, police said.
“I am the second victim of the BLUE LINE stabbing,” Dobie wrote on the crowdfunding site GoFundMe. “Luckily I survived but my body has taken plenty damage. Have a tube running from my chest to a machine pumping blood out of my lungs. Please pray and help me with a better recovery.”
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Solorzano faces state charges of attempted first-degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon with serious injury, breaking/entering a motor vehicle, carrying a concealed weapon and intoxicated/disruptive behavior, according to multiple Department of Homeland Security (DHS) sources and arrest warrants obtained by Fox News Digital.
“Everyone who uses public transportation is the victim of a crime like this, and we will act swiftly to prosecute those who violate our immigration laws and endanger the lives of citizens using public transit to go about their daily lives,” said U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson.
In addition to the attack, Solorzano has a robbery conviction in New Jersey following a 2012 arrest. In July 2016, he was arrested by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office in Florida for aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.
Nine months later, Solorzano was arrested by the U.S. Border Patrol. He was convicted of illegal reentry and sentenced to 18 months in prison. On June 9, 2021, he was deported from the U.S. out of Alexandria, Louisiana.
If convicted, Solorzano faces up to life in prison.
The light rail attack came months after Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska, 23, was fatally stabbed on a LYNX Blue Line train while on her way home from work.
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Decarlos Brown Jr., 34, who is accused of killing Zarutska, was charged with violence against a railroad carrier and a mass transportation system resulting in death—a capital offense under federal law.
“Oscar Solorzano-Garcia should not have been on the Charlotte light rail last Friday—in fact, he should not have been in our country,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge James C. Barnacle Jr. “He has a violent criminal history and was deported twice. These two recent attacks on the city’s light rail system make one thing clear: safety measures on public transportation in our city must be strengthened. People deserve a secure and reliable transit system where they make it to work and back home unharmed.”
Fox News Digital’s Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report.
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