3 stabbed, 2 fatally, by man hurling slurs at Muslim women on Portland train
Jeremy Joseph Christian
Police: 3 stabbed, 2 fatally, by man hurling slurs at Muslim women on Portland train
Two people died Friday and another was hurt in a stabbing on a Portland light-rail train after a man yelled racial slurs at two young women who appeared to be Muslim, one of whom was wearing a hijab, police said.
Officers arrested a man Friday afternoon who ran from the train, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported . The paper identified the man as Jeremy Joseph Christian, 35, and said he is being held without bail, citing jail records. A Portland police spokesman has not yet confirmed Christian is a suspect in the stabbings.
Before the stabbing the assailant on the train was ranting on many topics, using "hate speech or biased language," and then turned his focus on the women, police Sgt. Pete Simpson said.
"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," Simpson told The Oregonian. "They were attacked viciously."
One person was dead at the scene and another died at a hospital, Simpson said. The third person was taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
It wasn't clear why the man was yelling, Simpson said.
"He was talking about a lot of different things, not just specifically anti-Muslim," Simpson said.
Police don't know if the man has mental health issues or if he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time.
The attack happened on a MAX train as it headed east. A train remained stopped on the tracks at a transit center which was closed while police investigated.
Evelin Hernandez, a 38-year-old resident of Clackamas, Oregon, told the newspaper she was on the train when the man began making racist remarks to the women. A group of men tried to quiet him and he stabbed them, she said.
Simpson said the women understandably left the scene before police were able to talk with them but that they would like to hear from them to help fill in what happened.
"It's horrific," Simpson said. "There's no other word to describe what happened today."
Millions of Muslims marked the start of Ramadan Friday, a time of intense prayer, dawn-to-dusk fasting and nightly feasts.
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Will Trump tweet condemnation?
Sad two American heroes were killed standing up to an apparently crazy atheist on an anti-religion, anti- everything rant.
The story says that this white American man singled out two obviously Muslim women and yelled anti-Muslim slurs at them. It says he also said other hateful things to the group of people on the train at-large. Doesn't mention that he ranted at "religion" in general, and doesn't say he was an atheist.
Per CNN:
Jeremy Joseph Christian, 35, was on a Metropolitan Area Express (MAX) light-rail train in Portland late Friday afternoon when he started yelling what "would best be characterized as hate speech toward a variety of ethnicities and religions.
Most people who start attacking multiple religions are atheists. Maybe he's not. We will see.
Well, he's definitely an "anti-monotheist" who loved Sanders and Stein.
The targets of his hate may have been broad—Muslims, Jews, feminists, liberals, police—but there's no doubt Christian had announced his intention to kill.
It's so sad that these people tried to do the right thing and died for it. They are heros. Apparently, hate and crazy won that battle. I hope the legal system can at least avenge their deaths.
Looks like he's got a screw loose.
"Christian expressed support for "Sanders/Stein 2017"
I was talking to someone the other day who says that Arabs are white. I bet you this guy doesn't think so.
From Dean's article:
When he extended his hand, I noticed the Nordic rune tattoos on his forearm. On his Facebook page, amid rants against organized religion and memes poking fun at Jews sentenced to die in the Nazi concentration camps, were other posts revealing his crazed "Misanthropic Nihilist" philosophy.
Christian expressed support for "Sanders/Stein 2017″—which some will certainly seize upon as a distraction. And it is a distraction, because the main current of Christian's ravings, online and off, was race hatred. "I want a job in Norway cutting off the heads of people that Circumcize Babies," he wrote.
He mocks Jews being killed in Nazi death camps and then supports two Jewish candidates for president on a fantasy ticket in a non-existent election cycle. His dream job is being paid in Noway to decapitate people who perform circumcisions. He's obviously batshit crazy. This is a mental illness issue, not a political one.