WEB DESK /
In another incdent of alleged hate crime in US, a man fatally stabbed two people and wounded a third on a commuter train in Oregon’s largest city Friday as people confronted him for “yelling a gamut of anti-Muslim and anti-everything slurs,” a Portland police spokesman said.
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,” police said in news release.
On Saturday, Portland police named the suspect as Jeremy Joseph Christian and said he was being held without bail at the Multnomah County jail.
The 35-year-old, a known white supremacist according to a report by the Portland Mercury , was booked on two counts of aggravated murder, one count of attempted murder, two counts of intimidation in the second degree, and one count of felon in possession of a restricted weapon. He could face additional charges after the case is presented to a grand jury. He is due to be arraigned on Monday.
In a statement, Portland police said the attacker shouted ethnic and religious slurs at the women on a commuter train at the Hollywood transit station. Witnesses told police that the two young women were possibly Muslim. One wore a hijab.
Three men who intervened were stabbed, two fatally, and Christian was arrested shortly after he got off the train. The women left the scene before police could interview them.
Portland police did not identify the suspect or the victims. The third victim was treated for non-life threatening injuries.
In a blogpost, the Mercury said Christian yelled racial slurs and repeatedly gave a Nazi salute at a rightwing march in April. Police confiscated a baseball bat he carried to the event, according to the post, which included video of the incident.
Portland mayor Ted Wheeler, who was flying to London when the crime occurred, said in a statement there is “too much hatred in our world”.
“Now is the time, we must come together as a community and love one another,” Wheeler said. “We must reject hatred and violence. We must seek justice.”
PHOTO: PORTLAND POLICE BUREAUE
