Girl tearfully thanks men who lost lives defending her

By Final Call News | Last updated: May 31, 2017 - 9:31:13 AM

A sign of thanks rests against a traffi c light pole at a memorial outside the transit center in Portland, Ore. on May 27. People stopped with fl owers, candles, signs and painted rocks for two bystanders who were stabbed to death May 26, while trying to stop a man who was yelling anti-Muslim slurs and acting aggressively toward two young women, including one wearing a Muslim head covering, on a light-trail train in Portland. Suspect Jeremy Joseph Christian, 35, was booked on suspicion of murder and attempted murder in the attack. Photo: AP/Wide World photos

PORTLAND—A 17-year-old cried as she told the story of how she was confronted by a man because her friend was wearing a hijab and how it escalated into a fatal stabbing of those who came to her aid.

Destinee Mangum could not hold back her tears as she thanked the three men who came to her defense as she and a friend rode the Portland light rail system.

“I just want to say thank you to the people who put their life on the line for me,” she told CNN affiliate KPTV. “Because they didn’t even know me and they lost their lives because of me and my friend and the way we look.”

“He was telling us to get out of his country,” she recalled.

The man was telling the girls to go back to Saudi Arabia and that they didn’t belong in America, she said.

When the passengers intervened, the violence began. “He just started stabbing people and there was blood everywhere. We started running for our lives,” said Ms. Mangum.

Rick Best, 53; Taliesin Namkai-Meche, 23; and Micah Fletcher, 21, tried to defend Ms. Mangum and her friend before Jeremy Joseph Christian attacked the men with a knife, authorities said.

Mr. Best and Mr. Namkai-Meche were killed in the attack, which occurred on the first day of Ramadan, the holiest time of the year for Muslims. Police said Mr. Best died at the scene and that Mr. Meche died at a hospital.

Mr. Fletcher was at local hospital, where he was being treated for serious injuries, according to authorities. Police said his injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.

Mr. Christian was arrested in connection with the stabbings, and in a statement the Portland Police Bureau said a preliminary investigation indicated that he yelled “various remarks that would best be characterized as hate speech toward a variety of ethnicity and religions.”

He was booked May 27 on charges of aggravated murder, attempted murder in the second degree and possession of a restricted weapon by a felon.

In a Facebook video posted May 28, Ms. Mangum and her mother, Dyjuana Hudson, thanked the public for their support.

“We’re just here to say thank you,” Ms. Hudson said. “We really appreciate what’s being done for us and for the victims.”

Ms. Hudson shared a link to a crowdfunding campaign for mental health services for the two teens, who are, according to the fundraiser’s page, “suffering immense trauma in the aftermath” of the episode.

“Although they survived, their lives will never be the same, as they were being the targets of hate,” the campaign’s creators said. “In order to help them heal from this traumatic event, we are raising funds to help girls to move on and feel safe in the future.”

The campaign raised more than $14,500 as of early May 29. The fundraiser has a goal of $50,000.

A separate fundraising campaign launched by the Muslim Community Center in Portland to help the families of the dead men as well as the surviving victims has raised more than $50,000, according to The Associated Press.

“I am very thankful as a Muslim, I am very thankful as a Portlander ... that we stand together here as one,” Muhammad Najieb, an imam at the Muslim Community Center, told The Associated Press. The two young women “could have been the victims, but three heroes jumped in and supported them.”

Mr. Christian was apprehended shortly after the May 26 attack when he was confronted by other men.

A heart-shaped wreath covered with positive messages hung on a traffic light pole at a memorial for the two men.

The mayor of Portland hailed as “heroes” the men who were stabbed to death trying to protect the women. The men were also praised by the governor and President Trump for their actions.

Police said they’ll examine what appears to be the extremist ideology of Mr. Christian. Mr. Christian’s social media postings indicate an affinity for Nazis and political violence.

“That people feel emboldened to come out and show their racism and bigotry in that way is horrifying to me. It’s a gut check for everywhere—and absolutely for Portland,” said Christopher Douglas, who stopped at a makeshift memorial to the slain men. “Portland ... floats in a little bit of a bubble of its own liberal comfort and I think the reality is sinking in.”

Mr. Christian was held in the Multnomah County Jail.

His first court appearance was scheduled for June 30 at Final Call press time.

Mr. Meche’s mother, Asha Deliverance of Ashland, Oregon, confirmed on Facebook that her son had been killed. “He was a hero and will remain a hero on the other side of the veil. Shining bright star I love you forever,” she wrote.

Mr. Meche, 23, graduated last year from Reed College in Portland with a bachelor’s degree in economics, the college said on its website. Mayor Ted Wheeler said at a news conference that Mr. Best was an Army veteran and a city employee.

Ms. Hudson told The Oregonian/OregonLive that the man began a racial tirade as soon as he spotted the girls. Her daughter is Black and was with a friend who was wearing a hijab, she said.

“He was saying that Muslims should die,” Ms. Hudson said.

The FBI and U.S. Attorney for Oregon are working with Portland police. The FBI said it’s too early to say whether the slayings qualify as a federal hate crime however Mr. Christian faces intimidation charges, the state equivalent of a hate crime.

The Portland Mercury, one of the city’s alternative weeklies, posted an article on its website saying Mr. Christian showed up at a free speech march in late April with a baseball bat to confront protesters and the bat was confiscated by police.

The article included video clips of a man wearing a metal chain around his neck and draped in an American flag shouting “I’m a nihilist! This is my safe place!” as protesters crowd around him. The Oregonian/OregonLive also had video from the April 29 march showing Mr. Christian.

It was confirmed the man in the videos was Mr. Christian and investigators were aware of them.

On what appears to be Mr. Christian’s Facebook page he showed sympathy for Nazis and wrote in April “May all the Gods Bless Timothy McVeigh, a TRUE PATRIOT!!!,” a reference to the man who bombed a federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995.

(Compiled from Associated Press and Final Call staff reports.)

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