Two Killed in Portland While Trying to Stop Anti-Muslim Rant, Police Say -
By MATTHEW HAAG and JACEY FORTINMAY 27, 2017
The Oregon man accused of screaming anti-Muslim insults at two women,
and then fatally stabbing two men and wounding a third as they tried to intervene on Friday, had a history of making extremist remarks, according to the police and civil rights advocacy organizations.
In a statement on Saturday, the Portland police said the attacker, who was identified as Jeremy Joseph Christian, 35, of North
Portland, Ore., had been booked into the Multnomah County Jail on charges that included two counts of aggravated murder.
The episode began on Friday when the three men were attacked on a Portland commuter train as they tried to calm Mr. Christian, who, the police said, was ranting
and talking disparagingly about the women, one wearing a hijab.
One included a meme, which read, ‘If we’re removing statues because of the Civil War … we should be removing mosques because of 9/11.’”
It also says that Mr. Christian has promoted the notion of a whites-only area in the Northwest.
Mr. Christian has a history of making extremist statements on social media, said Zakir Khan, a member of the
Council on American-Islamic Relations who is working to set up a chapter of the organization in Oregon.
The police added that the two women, who were not injured, left the scene and were later identified and contacted by investigators.
