PORTLAND, Ore. -- Police said Saturday that they'll examine what appears to be the extremist ideology of an Oregon man suspected of fatally stabbing two men who tried to intervene when the suspect yelled racial slurs at two teenage girls who appeared to be Muslim on a Portland light-rail train.
Jeremy Joseph Christian, 35, was being held Saturday in the Multnomah County jail on suspicion of aggravated murder, attempted murder, intimidation and being a felon in possession of a weapon. He was arrested shortly after the attack Friday.
He will make a first court appearance Tuesday, and it wasn't immediately clear if he had an attorney. A phone at his home in Portland rang unanswered early Saturday.
Police on Saturday identified the victims as Ricky John Best, 53, of Happy Valley, Ore., and Taliesin Myrddin Namkai Meche, 23, of Portland. Best died at the scene, and Meche died at a hospital, police said. Autopsies were being done Saturday.
Meche's mother, Asha Deliverance of Ashland, Ore., confirmed on Facebook that her son had been killed. She did not immediately return a call to her business phone listing or a message sent through social media.
"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.
Meche 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 Best was an Army veteran and a city employee.
"These two men died heroes as a result of a horrific act of racist violence."
Micah David-Cole Fletcher, 21, of Portland was also stabbed in the attack and is in serious condition at a Portland hospital, police said. His injuries are not believed to be life-threatening, police said.
"Their actions were brave and selfless and should serve as an example, an inspiration to us all. They are heroes," Wheeler said.
A memorial of flowers and signs quickly grew at the scene by a transit station.
Dyjuana Hudson, a mother of one of the girls, told The Oregonian 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," Hudson said. "That they've been killing Christians for years."
The mother told the newspaper that her daughter, Destinee Hudson, 16, is black, and her friend, 17, is Muslim.
The police did not release the names of the girls.
The assailant on the train was ranting on many topics, using "hate speech or biased language," police said in a statement.
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 but that Christian faces intimidation charges, the state equivalent of a hate crime.
Wheeler decried the charged national political environment surrounding immigration.
"Violent words can lead to violent acts," Wheeler said. "All elected leaders in America ... must work deliberately to change our political dialogue."
Neighbors who live next to Christian's parents' house -- which was his last listed address in court records -- said the family was quiet and they often saw Christian's two adult brothers but never him.
One neighbor, Kenny Jenkins, said he occasionally saw Christian riding his bike around the neighborhood.
Christian has had several encounters with the law, and spent time in prison for robbery and kidnapping charges years ago, according to court records and a defense attorney.
In 2002, Christian, then 20, was arrested and charged with first-degree robbery and second-degree kidnapping after he rode to a convenience store on his bike and held up employees there with a gun, according to court records and his court-appointed defense attorney at the time, Matthew Kaplan.
When police caught up with him, Christian aimed the gun at himself in a suicide attempt before he was shot and injured by police, Kaplan said.
Christian was sentenced to more than seven years in prison after striking a plea deal that eliminated coercion and weapons charges.
Kaplan said he remembers the case vividly because Christian was so young, so earnest and had never been in trouble before. At the time, the attorney suspected the onset of mental illness to explain his actions and worried about how he would deal with a long prison sentence.
Christian had another brush with the law in 2010, when he was arrested on charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm and theft. Those charges were dismissed, according to court records, which do not explain why.
Information for this article was contributed by Keith Ridler of The Associated Press.
A Section on 05/28/2017