Portland Muslims thankful for support after fatal attack
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.
The two young women “could have been the victims, but three heroes jumped in and supported them”, he said.
A fund-raising page launched by his group for the families of the dead men, a surviving victim and the two young women had raised US$50,000 (RM215,000) in its first hours, Najieb said.
Police said they would examine what appeared to be the extremist ideology of suspect Jeremy Joseph Christian, 35, who is accused of killing the two men on 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.
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 he was confronted by other men.
Meanwhile, one of the victims of the hate speech sent her thanks to those who came to her defence.
Destinee Mangum, 16, told FOX 12 that she and her 17-year-old friend were riding the train when Christian approached them yelling what is described as hate speech.
Her friend is Muslim, but she’s not.
“He told us to go back to Saudi Arabia, and he told us we shouldn’t be here, to get out of his country,” Mangum said. “He was just telling us that we basically weren’t anything and that we should kill ourselves.”
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.
Police identified the men killed as Ricky John Best, 53, of Happy Valley, Oregon, and Taliesin Myrddin Namkai Meche, 23, of Portland. — AP