Source: Dawn

It was 4:30 in the afternoon, just before rush hour. The trains were crowded but not as much as they would soon be. Some witnesses in the Portland commuter train said that all the seats were taken and many passengers were standing, holding on to the handrails as the train made its way to the next stop.

It was at this moment that a white man by the name of Jeremy Christianbegan hurling abuse at two dark-skinned women, one of whom was wearing a hijab. Christian, who is now known to be a white supremacist, was yelling about how persons of colour were ruining the city and how he had First Amendment rights. Non-whites on the train said they felt scared and hoped that Christian would get off.

He did not get off — not until he had killed two people. As Christian got angrier, three men, an army veteran named Ricky John Best and two young men named Taliesin Myrddin Namkai-Meche and Micah David-Cole Fletcher approached him and tried to calm him down and move him away from the two girls that he was harassing.

Within minutes, two of them would be dead. Christian pulled out a knife and stabbed Best and Meche. He also attacked Fletcher. Best died on the spot. Meche, who was stabbed in the neck, was clinging to life. One eyewitness who was with him before police and ambulances arrived at the scene described how she and other passengers urged Meche to hold on, to not give up. Meche was still alive when the ambulance arrived at the scene; the last thing he said before he was loaded on to the stretcher was, “Tell everyone on this train, I love them”.

Meche died at the hospital. Fletcher is expected to survive. The assailant, Jeremy Christian, has been charged with several counts of murder, attempted murder, intimidation and illegal possession of a weapon. Federal law-enforcement agencies are expected to consider whether the incident will also be prosecuted as a federal hate crime, which carries further penalties.

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