Ukrainian refugee shot dead in North Carolina, suspect detained
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A 21-year-old Ukrainian refugee, Kateryna Tovmash, was fatally shot alongside her boyfriend at her home in North Carolina on Feb. 14, local police reported.
The murder took place in the Woodlake community of Vass. Twenty-five-year-old Caleb Hayden Fosno, the ex-boyfriend of Tovmash, has been identified as the suspect.
The victim's brother, Mykhailo Tovmash, said that Fosno traveled seven hours before breaking into her sister's home on the morning of Feb. 14, and fatally shot both her and her 28-year-old boyfriend, Matthew Wade, a soldier stationed at Fort Bragg.
At the time, Tovmash's siblings were also in the house but were unharmed.
"(Fosno) forced one of our siblings to wake her, then shot her in her bed," Mykhailo Tovmash said.
The suspect fled the scene but was later arrested in Ohio. The law enforcement are working to fully determine the circumstances of the incident.
Kateryna Tovmash was from Bila Tserkva, a town located some 80 kilometres (49 miles) south of Kyiv. She had been living with her family in the U.S. for around two years, having moved there amid Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine.
"This is a second time for the past year, when a Ukrainian woman who is a refugee and is hiding for safety in North Carolina, gets murdered by a man," Tovmash's brother said.
In August, a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska was fatally stabbed on a train in Charlotte, North Carolina. The unprovoked killing sparked a widespread debate over crime in the U.S.
Decarlos Brown Jr., a homeless man with a history of violent crime and mental health issues, was taken into custody shortly after the attack and charged with first-degree murder.
