PORTLAND, Ore. — Muslims in Portland, Oregon, thanked the community for its support and said they were raising money for the families of two men who were killed when they came to the defense of two young women — one wearing a hijab — who were targeted by an anti-Muslim rant.
Taliesin Myrddin Namkai-Meche and Ricky John Best were killed and Micah David-Cole Fletcher was severely injured in Portland, Oregon on Friday.
“I am very thankful as a Muslim, I am very thankful as a Portlander ... that we stand together here as one,” Muhammad A. Najieb, an imam at the Muslim Community Center, said Saturday.
The two young women “could have been the victims, but three heroes jumped in and supported them,” he said.
A fundraising page launched by his group for the families of the dead men, a surviving victim and the two young women had raised more than $600,000.
Police said they’ll examine what appears to be the extremist ideology of suspect Jeremy Joseph Christian, 35, who is accused of killing the two men Friday. Christian’s social media postings indicate an affinity for Nazis and political violence.
The attack occurred on a light-rail train on the first day of Ramadan, the holiest time of the year for Muslims.
One of the victims of the hate speech is sending her thanks to those who came to her defense.
Destinee Mangum, 16, told the station on Saturday that she and her 17-year-old friend were riding the train when Jeremy Christian approached them yelling what is described as hate speech. She said her friend is Muslim, but she’s not.
The girls were scared and moved to the back of the train while a stranger jumped in to help.
“Me and my friend were going to get off the MAX and then we turned around while they were fighting and he just started stabbing people and it was just blood everywhere and we just started running for our lives,” Mangum said.
Alvin Hall said had just stepped off the train on Friday when he saw a man bleeding from the neck, KATU-TV reported. Hall said his instincts kicked in and he went after the suspect.
“My first process was, ‘What can I do? Where did he go?’ and someone said, ‘He ran over to the bridge,’ “ Hall said. “So I just took up running from the bridge up the stairs.”
He said he met Chase Robinson and Larry Blackwell, and the three men confronted the suspect, who turned on them with a knife.
“The minute he saw me he started coming after me. He’s like, ‘You want some of me, you’re a snitch, come on after me, you want some of this?’ and started chasing me,” Hall said.
Soon, police arrived and took the suspect into custody.
Christian will make his first court appearance in the case Tuesday, and it wasn’t clear if he had an attorney.
Police identified the men killed as Ricky John Best, 53, of Happy Valley, Oregon, and Taliesin Myrddin Namkai Meche, 23, of Portland. Mayor Ted Wheeler said Best was an Army veteran and a city employee. Meche earned a bachelor’s degree in economics in 2016 from Reed College in Portland and landed a job with the Cadmus Group, a consulting firm in the area.
Police say Micah David-Cole Fletcher, 21, of Portland was also stabbed and is in serious condition at a Portland hospital. Police say his injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.
Fletcher is a student at Portland State University and was taking the train from classes to his job at a pizza shop when the attack occurred.
Police said one of the two young women on the train was wearing a hijab. The assailant was ranting on many topics, using “hate speech or biased language,” police Sgt. Pete Simpson said.
The FBI said it’s too early to say whether the slayings qualify as a federal hate crime. However, Christian faces intimidation charges, the state equivalent of a hate crime. — AP
