Two people were killed in a stabbing on a MAX train Friday when they tried to intervene as a man yelled racial slurs at two young women who appeared to be Muslim, including one wearing a hijab, police said.
A third passenger also was stabbed, but is expected to survive, said Portland police spokesman Sgt. Pete Simpson.
Officers arrested the suspect as he ran into the neighborhood near Providence Portland Medical Center in Northeast Portland, Simpson said. Police are still working to identify him and the people stabbed.
The man was ranting about many things, using “hate speech or biased language,” and at one point focused on the young women, Simpson said.
The suspect then turned on the passengers who tried to help, Simpson said.
“In the midst of his ranting and raving, some people approached him and appeared to try to intervene with his behavior and some of the people that he was yelling at,” Simpson said. “They were attacked viciously.”
One good Samaritan died at the scene and another at the hospital, he said. The third victim was undergoing evaluation, but didn’t suffer life-threatening wounds, he said.
“These were folks just riding the train and unfortunately got caught up in this,” he said.
“We don’t know if he’s got mental health issues,” Simpson said. “We don’t know if he’s under the influence of drugs or alcohol or all of the above.”
Evelin Hernandez, a 38-year-old Clackamas resident, said she was on the train when the man began making racist remarks to the young women. A group of men tried to quiet him, she said, and he stabbed them.
The attack occurred on a MAX Green Line train as it was heading east. A train remained stopped on the tracks at the Hollywood/N.E. 42nd Avenue Transit Center as police investigated.
Simpson said police want to talk to the young women and other witnesses to the rampage. They understandably left the scene, but can help fill in what happened, he said.
“It’s horrific,” he said. “There’s no other word to describe what happened today. For the victims, our thoughts and prayers are with their families. … For the witnesses, there is no other word.”
Friday marks the start of Ramadan, a month-long fast observed by most of the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims.
“Our thoughts are with the Muslim community,” Simpson said. “As something like this happens, this only instills fear in that community. We have already reached out previous to this incident to our Muslim community partners and the different imams about extra patrol during Ramadan. We want to reassure them that that will continue.”
Portland is home to a rough estimate of about 50,000 Muslims of different ethnicities.
