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A man fatally stabbed two passengers and injured a third aboard a commuter light-rail train in Portland, Oregon, after they tried to stop him from harassing two young women, one who appeared to be Muslim, police said.
Key points:
- Three men stabbed after intervening in man's racist rant at teenage girls
- Jeremy Joseph Christian, 35, arrested for aggravated and attempted murder, intimidation and possessing a weapon
- Attack occurred as the month of Ramadan begins
- Police to examine Christian's apparent extremist ideology
Police identified the attacker as 35-year-old convicted felon, Jeremy Joseph Christian.
The Portland man was arrested soon after the Friday afternoon attack.
Christian started shouting ethnic and religious slurs, apparently at the two young women, one of whom wore a Muslim head-covering, the Portland Police Department said in a statement.
Three men who intervened were stabbed.
Police identified the victims as 53-year-old Ricky John Best of Happy Valley, Oregon, and 23-year-old Taliesin Myrddin Namkai Meche of Portland. Police said Mr Best died at the scene and Mr Meche died at a hospital.
Mr Meche's mother, Asha Deliverance, confirmed on Facebook her son had been killed. She did not immediately return a call to her business phone listing or a message sent through social media.
"He was a hero and will remain a hero on the other side of the veil. Shining bright star I love you forever," she wrote.
In a statement, the family said: "His enthusiasm was infectious. We lost him in a senseless act that brought close to home the insidious rift of prejudice and intolerance that is too familiar, too common".
Mr Best worked for the city of Portland, was an Army veteran and was a onetime candidate for Clackamas County commissioner.
He was married, had four children, and was "always the first person you would go to for help", his supervisor Kareen Perkins said.
"I've talked to most of his co-workers today, and several of them said it's just like Rick to step in and help somebody out."
Mayor Ted Wheeler condemned the attack.
"These two men died heroes as a result of a horrific act of racist violence," he said.
A third victim, 21-year-old Micah David-Cole Fletcher of Southeast Portland remains in a local hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
The women, who had left the train before officers arrived, were later in contact with authorities, according to police, who have not released their identities.
Dyjuana Hudson, the mother of one of the women, told The Oregonian newspaper that her 16-year-old daughter, who is black, boarded the train with a Muslim friend, also a teenager, who was wearing a hijab.
The attacker approached the girls while screaming at them, Ms Hudson told the newspaper, relaying an account her daughter had given her.
"He was saying that Muslims should die," Ms Hudson said. "That they've been killing Christians for years."
'Reality is sinking in' for liberal Portland
Christian was booked on two counts of aggravated murder and charges of attempted murder, intimidation and being a felon in possession of a restricted weapon, and was ordered held without bail. His arraignment is scheduled for Tuesday.
A senior researcher with the Southern Poverty Law Center, in a blog post, said Christian's Facebook page showed he held "some racist and other extremist beliefs".
The attack unfolded hours before the start of Ramadan, the holiest time of the year for Muslims, when most of the world's 1.6 billion Muslims observe a daily religious fast.
It sent shockwaves through a city that prides itself on its tolerance and liberal views. A memorial where the stabbing occurred grew steadily on Saturday, and a vigil was planned.
"That people feel emboldened to come out and show their racism and bigotry in that way is horrifying to me. It's a gut check for everywhere — and absolutely for Portland," said Christopher Douglas, who stopped at the memorial.
"Portland ... floats in a little bit of a bubble of its own liberal comfort and I think the reality is sinking in."
Christian will make a first court appearance Tuesday, and it was not clear if he had an attorney. A phone at his home in Portland rang unanswered Saturday, and no-one came to the door at his parents' home.
Police said Saturday they would be examining what appears to be Christian's extremist ideology.
The suspect had no known affiliation with a criminal gang member nor any mental health history, police said.
In a statement, the Council on American-Islamic Relations blamed an increase in anti-Muslim incidents in part on President Donald Trump's focus on militant Islamist groups and anti-immigrant rhetoric.
The Trump administration has said that while it strongly opposes Islamist militants, it has no quarrel with Islam.
Mr Wheeler decried the charged national political environment surrounding immigration.
"Violent words can lead to violent acts," he said.
"All elected leaders in America … must work deliberately to change our political dialogue."
Reuters/AP
Topics: death, community-and-society, murder-and-manslaughter, crime, law-crime-and-justice, united-states
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