Jeremy Joseph Christian has been identified as the man accused of the fatal stabbing of two people on a Portland light-rail train. Christian has a criminal record that includes spending time in prison.
Christian was convicted of robbery, kidnapping and a weapons charge in 2002. Christian is now being held in the Multnomah County Jail on suspicion of aggravated murder and attempted murder, Court records show.
|
Advertisement |
Police say two people died Friday and another was hurt in the stabbing after Christian yelled racial slurs at two young women who appeared to be Muslim, one of whom was wearing a hijab. Before the stabbing, the assailant on the train was ranting on many topics, using “hate speech or biased language.” One person was dead at the scene and another died at a hospital. The third person was taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
Evelin Hernandez, a 38-year-old resident of Clackamas, Oregon, told the newspaper she was on the train when she observed a man began making racist remarks to the women. A group of men tried to quiet him and that’s when he stabbed them, she said.