Muslims thankful for support after rant, deadly attack in Portland

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 defence of two young women — one wearing a hijab — who were targeted by an anti-Muslim rant.

“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 $50,000 in its first hours, Najieb said.

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.

Messages left at the home of Christian’s mother were not immediately returned.

The attack occurred on a light-rail train on the first day of Ramadan, the holiest time of the year for Muslims.

Christian was being held on suspicion of aggravated murder, attempted murder, intimidation and being a felon in possession of a weapon. He was arrested a short time after the attack when confronted by other men.

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.