Fox Host Brian Kilmeade Said Mentally Ill Homeless People Who Refuse Help Should Be Killed

In August 2025, a Ukrainian refugee was fatally stabbed while riding a light rail train in Charlotte, N.C. Footage of her attack immediately began circulating online, showing the suspect pulling a knife out of his jacket, standing up behind the woman, and then stabbing her three times in quick succession. The suspect then gets up and walks the length of the train while drops of the young girl's blood hit the floor.

The girl was identified as Iryna Zarutska, who fled her country following Russia's attacks on Ukraine. Mere hours after her death, 34-year-old Decarlos Brown was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. According to ABC News, Brown had a criminal history and was a diagnosed schizophrenic. This attack prompted a conversation on an episode of Fox & Friends during which host Brian Kilmeade said something shocking about involuntary lethal injection. Here's what we know.

On the same day Charlie Kirk was assassinated while speaking at Utah Valley University, the hosts of Fox & Friends were discussing the deadly stabbing in North Carolina. Co-host Lawrence Jones asserted that taxpayers have given "billions of dollars to mental health and the homeless population." He then said that "a lot of them don’t want to take the programs, a lot of them don’t want to get the help that is necessary."

"Either you take the resources that we’re going to give you ... or you decide that you are going to be locked up in jail," he continued. "That’s the way it has to be now." At this point, Kilmeade jumped in with an idea of his own, suggesting "involuntary lethal injection or something," before saying, "Just kill 'em."

A few days after Kilmeade made his shocking statement, he appeared remotely on Fox & Friends Weekend to issue an apology. He touched on the fact that he and the other Fox & Friends hosts were discussing Zaurtska's murder and how to "stop these kinds of attacks by homeless, mentally ill assailants, including institutionalizing or jailing such people so they cannot attack again," when he made a callous remark.

Kilmeade said that during the discussion, he "wrongly said they [mentally ill homeless people] should get lethal injections." He apologized for the "callous remark" and said he is "obviously aware that not all mentally ill, homeless people act as the perpetrator did in North Carolina, and that so many homeless people deserve our empathy and compassion." There appear to be no plans to fire Kilmeade.

Days after Kilmeade suggested mentally ill, unhoused people should be killed for not accepting help, 13 people were wounded during shootings at two homeless encampments in Minneapolis, per ABC News. While no one is blaming the attacks on Kilmeade's statements, a few people on social media have pointed out the timing of the violence.