2017 Portland train attack

2017 Portland train attack
The Hollywood/Northeast 42nd Avenue Transit Center MAX Station, where police arrived after the attack, in 2009
Hollywood Transit Center 2017 Portland train attack (Portland, Oregon) 2017 Portland train attack (Oregon) 2017 Portland train attack (the United States)
Location	Portland, Oregon, United States
Coordinates	45°31′58″N 122°37′15″W
Date	May 26, 2017 c. 4:30 p.m. (UTC−08:00)
Attack type	Stabbing
Weapons	Knife
Deaths	2
Injured	1 (+1)

The 2017 Portland train attack occurred on May 26, 2017 when a man—identified by police as Jeremy Joseph Christian—fatally stabbed two people and injured a third, after he was confronted for shouting anti-Muslim racial slurs at two teenage girls on a MAX Light Rail train in Portland, Oregon. Christian was charged with murder, attempted murder, and other crimes. The attack was widely condemned by the Portland community, politicians, and civil rights groups, some of which claimed the attack represented a recent increase of racism and Islamophobia in the United States.

Attack

At approximately 4:30 p.m. PDT on May 26, 2017, Jeremy Joseph Christian fatally stabbed two people and injured a third on a MAX Light Rail train, after he was confronted for reportedly "yelling a gamut of anti-Muslim and anti-everything slurs." The Portland Police Bureau's report said Christian was shouting "hate speech toward a variety of ethnicities and religions." The man directed his tirade at a young Muslim woman, age 17, who was wearing a hijab, and her non-Muslim friend, age 16. The man told the girls to "to go back to Saudi Arabia"; told them to get out of "his country"; and "said they were nothing and they should kill themselves." Fearful, the pair moved to the back of the train as two men—Ricky John Best and Taliesin Myrddin Namkai Meche—stepped in to intervene. Christian fatally stabbed Best and Namkai-Meche, also injuring Micah David-Cole Fletcher. After Fletcher was stabbed, an unidentified man rushed to him and rendered first aid.

According to the bureau's spokesperson: "This suspect was on the train and he was yelling and ranting and raving a lot of different things, including what we characterized at hate speech or biased language. It appears preliminarily that the victims — at least a couple of them — were trying to intervene in his behavior, deescalate him and protect some other people on the train when [the suspect] viciously attacked them." Police arrived at the Hollywood/Northeast 42nd Avenue Transit Center MAX Station, and later found and arrested Christian, who had fled the scene on foot. Best died at the scene, and Meche later died at a hospital. The two Muslim women also left the train following the incident. Following the attack, the station and MAX Light Rail trains were shut down in both directions for several hours.

Investigation

Christian was booked into the Multnomah County jail. He was charged with two counts of aggravated murder and one count of attempted murder, as well as three misdemeanors: two counts of second-degree intimidation and one count of being a felon possessing a restricted weapon. Renn Cannon, of the Portland FBI office, said "It's too early to say whether last night's violence was an act of domestic terrorism or a federal hate crime."

Suspect

File:Portland stabbing.png

Christian following the stabbing, pictured in bloody clothes and holding a knife.

Christian held extremist views, posting neo-Nazi and antisemitic material on social media, as well as material indicating an affinity for political violence. Christian described himself as a white nationalist.

According to The Portland Mercury, Christian was a "known right-wing extremist and white supremacist." He had been convicted of kidnapping and robbery in 2002. He was also arrested in 2010 on charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm and theft, but those charges were later dropped. Christian had been participating in various "alt-right" rallies in Portland. One month prior to the stabbing, Christian spoke at a "March for Free Speech" in Portland's Montavilla Park, where he wore a Revolutionary War-era flag of the United States, carried a baseball bat, gave Nazi salutes, and used a racial slur at least once.

The Southern Poverty Law Center reported Christian's Facebook page showed he held racist and extremist views. He posted a comment in April 2017, "I just Challenged Ben Ferencz (Last Living Nuremberg Persecutor) to a Debate in the Hague with Putin as our judge. I will defend the Nazis and he will defend the AshkeNAZIs [a reference to European Jews]." NPR reported he had also praised Timothy McVeigh in an online posting on April 19, the anniversary of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.

Christian had made racial threats hours before the killings, as seen on videos taken by cell phone.

Victims

Ricky John Best, 53, of Happy Valley, died at the scene. He was a technician for the City of Portland's Bureau of Development Services and a father of four children. He retired in 2014 from the U.S. Army as a platoon sergeant after 23 years of service; he had served tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. He had run for a seat on the Clackamas County commission in 2014, refusing to take campaign contributions from corporations. Portland Commissioner Chloe Eudaly issued a statement, "My heart goes out to the family of Rick Best. They have lost a husband and a father, and we have lost a treasured employee."

Taliesin Myrddin Namkai-Meche, 23, of Portland, died at a hospital following the incident. He had recently graduated from Reed College with a degree in economics and worked for the Cadmus Group, a consulting firm. His thesis adviser, Noelwah R. Netusil, issued a statement that he was "a very caring person, smart, hardworking, and with such a bright future."

Micah David-Cole Fletcher, 21, the third stabbing victim, survived and was taken to a hospital with serious but with non-life-threatening wounds, specifically a knife injury to his throat. The attacker had narrowly missed Fletcher's jugular vein. Fletcher was a student at Portland State University. In 2013, Fletcher won a poetry contest while he was a junior in high school by writing a poem about Islamophobia in the United States.

Destinee Mangum, one of the two girls who was harassed by the assailant, expressed gratitude to the three men who stepped in to help her.

Reactions

Community

Hundreds of people gathered near the Hollywood Transit Station on May 27 evening for a candlelight vigil to honor the victims. A GoFundMe campaign called "Tri Met Heroes" had raised more than $100,000 for the victims' families within 24 hours of the stabbing, and has currently raised more than $311,000 since. Another crowdfunding campaign was set up to help pay Fletcher's medical bills and within 22 hours, 2,082 people had contributed $70,259. A third campaign was created raise money for the two teenage girls who were originally threatened by Christian. A fourth campaign was set up Muslims to raise money for the victims' families, which raised approximately $290,000. By late May 28, over $600,000 had been raised altogether for the victims' families.

Muslims in Portland such as Muhammad A. Najieb, an imam at the Muslim Community Center, said they were thankful for the support of the community following the attack.

Wadji Said of the Interfaith Council of Portland compared the attack to the 1988 murder of Mulugeta Seraw, an Ethiopian immigrant who was slain in Portland by a group of racist skinheads.

Politicians and officials

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler called the victims of the attack "heroes" in a statement released on May 27, continuing that "their actions were brave and selfless, and should serve as an example and inspiration to us all." Governor of Oregon Kate Brown echoed this sentiment, calling on all Oregonians to come together: "Let's not let hate and fear divide us. Instead let's take the example of the good Samaritans who sacrificed their lives for the safety of others and unite for a kinder, gentler Oregon."

Former candidate for the 2016 presidential election Hillary Clinton called the incident "heartbreaking" and stated that "No one should have to endure this racist abuse. No one should have to give their life to stop it."

Oregon's U.S. Senators, Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, expressed their grief and condolences for the victims, with the latter urging President Trump to "speak out personally against the rising tide of Islamophobia and other forms of bigotry and racism in our nation that he has provoked through his numerous statements, policies and appointments." U.S. Representatives Suzanne Bonamici and Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, and various other officials also gave their condolences. U.S. Representative Keith Ellison of Minnesota, the first Muslim elected to Congress, said that the three men "exhibited the best qualities of American heroes."

President Donald Trump initially did not comment on the stabbing attack, leading to public pressure on him to do so. Later, a message was posted on Trump's presidential Twitter account was released on May 29, stating "The violent attacks in Portland on Friday are unacceptable. The victims were standing up to hate and intolerance. Our prayers are w/ them."

President Trump's statement on the attacks.

The Portland police reached out the Muslim community to discuss increased patrolling during Ramadan. The bureau's spokesperson said, "Our thoughts are with the Muslim community, as something like this happens, this only instills fear in that community."

Organizations

The Anti-Defamation League, in a statement by its CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, offered its condolences to the victims, praised the heroism of bystanders who intervened, and stated: "The deadly attack in Portland is not a rare or isolated event. Rather, this is the latest in a long string of violent incidents connected to right-wing extremists in the United States...This consistent threat requires consistent resources and we call on our leaders to condemn this brutal act of terror and craft policy to counter all forms of violent extremism, including white supremacy."

The Council on American–Islamic Relations asked President Donald Trump to denounce "rising bigotry" and violence against Muslims. The organization's executive director said, "President Trump must speak out personally against the rising tide of Islamophobia and other forms of bigotry and racism in our nation that he has provoked through his numerous statements, policies and appointments that have negatively impacted minority communities." Imtiaz Khan, who serves as president of the Islamic Center of Portland, said: "We are very sad. Ramadan started just a couple hours ago. We are very sorry for the two men who tried to do the right thing. … Of course people from the Muslim community are concerned. And, unfortunately, the easy targets are women because of the headscarf." Khan also praised the two men who were slain, saying they "really sacrificed everything. They really stood up for the values of the Constitution."

Harris Zafar with the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Portland said he was inspired by the actions of the men who stepped in to defend the Muslim women. The Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon expressed grief for the tragedy and hoped it would "draw Muslim communities together."

See also

• 2016 Minneapolis shooting
• 2017 Olathe, Kansas shooting
• Stabbing of Timothy Caughman