Two people are dead and one was injured after a stabbing on a train in Portland, Ore., on Friday afternoon.
Police say the disturbance began when a man on a light-rail train “began yelling various remarks that would best be characterized as hate speech toward a variety of ethnicities and religions.” Among the subjects of his diatribe were two young women who appeared to be Muslim; one was wearing a hijab.
Portland police have charged Jeremy Joseph Christian with two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder. Portland Police Bureau hide caption
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Portland Police Bureau
“In the midst of his ranting and raving, some people approached him and appeared to try to intervene with his behavior and some of the people that he was yelling at,” Sgt. Pete Simpson told The Oregonian. “They were attacked viciously.”
The suspect stabbed three men before fleeing the train; police located him and took him into custody.
One victim died at the scene. Two other victims were taken to the hospital, where one was pronounced dead; the other is injured but expected to survive.
Police identified the suspect as 35-year-old Jeremy Joseph Christian of North Portland. He has been booked on two counts each of aggravated murder and intimidation in the second degree, and one count each of attempted murder and being a felon in possession of a restricted weapon.
Oregon Public Broadcasting reported that Simpson said that, though the attack happened just before the start of Ramadan, police weren’t yet sure the attack was “religiously motivated.”
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEX0J-1b_JI?rel=0]
Police Sgt. Pete Simpson describes the attack on a Portland train on Friday.
The Oregonian YouTube
“According to some preliminary witness statements, he was kind of spewing hate about a lot of different things,” said Simpson. “So not specifically and exclusively anti-Muslim. … So that’s why it’s hard to say at this point was he directing it at any one person, or was it just kind of in general to everyone around him.”
“We don’t know if he’s got mental health issues, we don’t know if he’s under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or all of the above,” said Simpson. “Right now we’re in the very early stages of the investigation.”
Imtiaz Khan, President of the Islamic Center of Portland, told OPB that since the election, hate speech and harassment of the Muslim community have increased.
“We are very sad. Ramadan started just a couple hours ago,” said Khan. “We are very sorry for the two men who tried to do the right thing.”
Khan said that “Of course people from the Muslim community are concerned. And unfortunately the easy targets are women because of the headscarf.”
The two women left before police arrived on the scene; Simpson said detectives would like to speak with them and other witnesses, though he said the incident was “very scary” and he understood why people would leave.
The Portland Mercury reports that the suspect was a “known local white supremacist.” The alternative weekly published photos and video of Christian at a “March for Free Speech” on April 29, to which he brought a baseball bat. Draped in an American flag, he yelled “I’m a nihilist,” and shouted profanity and racial slurs.
The Southern Poverty Law Center reviewed Christian’s Facebook page, and found numerous posts espousing extremist views. In a post from April 19, Christian praised the Oklahoma City bomber, writing, “May all the Gods Bless Timothy McVeigh a TRUE PATRIOT!!!”
In a February 2016 post, he wrote: “I’m sure most of you don’t remember but the American Nazi Party was taking care of a stretch of highway in Oregon about 10 years ago until ODOT took down their sign. Apparently Nazis don’t have the freedom to exercise their civic duties in this State. Why? Because we live in a Fascist Police State run By ‘Liberal’ ‘Multicultural’ NAZIS!!!”
Court records show that Christian was convicted in 2002 of robbery, kidnapping and a weapons charge, according to the AP.
Police say the state medical examiner will conduct autopsies late Saturday morning, after which the names of the three victims will be released.
Christian will be arraigned on Monday and could face additional charges.
