Police probing double homicide in Portland, Oregon
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E-mail Xinhua, May 28, 2017
A suspect was booked into jail Saturday morning for stabbing two people to death and injuring another in Portland, the largest city in the northwestern U.S. state of Oregon.
Portland Police Bureau acknowledged in a Twitter social media posting that "lots of questions about last night's horrific attack at the Hollywood TS (transit station). We will provide the updated information as soon as it's available."
Identified as 35-year-old Jeremy Joseph Christian of North Portland, the suspect faces charges of two counts of aggravated murder, one count of attempted murder, two counts of intimidation in the second degree, and one count of felon in possession of a restricted weapon.
The suspect will be arraigned on Tuesday in Multnomah County Court.
Some postings on social media networks showed Christian's pictures and said the suspect was seen giving a Nazi salute at a right-wing protest in April.
While authorities did not identify the incident late Friday as a racially or religiously charged one, the police bureau cited preliminary information that the suspect was on the Metropolitan Area Express (MAX) light-rail train yelling various remarks that "would best be characterized as hate speech toward a variety of ethnicities and religions."
Police officers responded at 4:30 p.m. Friday to the report of a disturbance on an eastbound MAX train at the Hollywood Transit Station involving a male who stabbed two other people. While enroute, they learned that the suspect got off the train and was leaving the area on foot. He was located by officers and taken into custody. And after receiving medical treatment, he was turned over to homicide detectives.
At the Hollywood Transit Station, an adult male died at the scene and other two victims were transported by ambulance to a Portland hospital, where one was pronounced dead and the other was treated for injuries that are not expected to be life-threatening.
Witnesses told police that at least two of the victims attempted to intervene with the suspect and calm him down. However, the suspect attacked the men, stabbing three, before leaving the train.
According witnesses, two young women, possibly Muslim, as one of them was described as wearing a hijab, were on the train at the time of the disturbance and attack, but left prior to police arrival.
The women have been identified as of Saturday afternoon and detectives have been in contact with them.
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