2 Stabbed To Death In Portland After Intervening In Anti-Muslim 'Hate Speech' Incident

PORTLAND, OR - Two people were stabbed to death aboard a MAX train in Portland Friday night after they tried to intervene when a man began yelling slurs at two Muslim women. A third person was stabbed, but survived. The suspect, Joseph Christian, 35, of North Portland, was arrested shortly after the incident near Providence Portland Medical Center, according to Portland police.

"Preliminary information indicates that the suspect was on the MAX train yelling various remarks that would best be characterized as hate speech toward a variety of ethnicities and religions," Portland police said in a statement. "At least two of the victims attempted to intervene with the suspect and calm him down. The suspect attacked the men, stabbing three, before leaving the train. "

A witness - 38-year-old Evelin Hernandez of Clackamas - told the Oregonian that the suspect began making racist comments toward the women, and when some passengers tried to quiet him down, he stabbed them. The two women who were the subject of the insults left the scene after the stabbing, according to the Oregonian.

The incident happened at the Northeast 42nd Avenue MAX stop around 4:30 p.m.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights group, on Friday night called for President Donald Trump to condemn the killings.

CAIR calls "on President Trump to speak out personally against rising bigotry and acts of racial violence in America targeting Muslims and other minority groups after two people were stabbed to death in Oregon when they reportedly tried to intervene as a man yelled racist and Islamophobic slurs at two young Muslim women, one of whom wore an Islamic head scarf, or hijab," the group wrote in a statement.

We will update this story as soon as more details are available.

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