Two people died and one got injured in a stabbing incident that happened on a Metropolitan Area Express (MAX) light-rail train after they confronted a man hurling racial abuses at two Muslim women in Portland, Oregon. The man was arrested by the police on Friday afternoon.
Portland Police Sgt. Pete Simpson said that the attacker ranted on several topics while on the train, and used "hate speech or biased language" while yelling at the women, the Associated Press reported.
He added that the passengers were "attacked viciously" when they intervened.
A statement released by the Portland Police Department said: "This investigation started on Friday May 26, 2017, at 4:30 p.m., when North Precinct and Transit Police Division officers responded to the report of a disturbance on an eastbound MAX train at the Hollywood Transit Station involving a male who stabbed two other people. Multiple officers responded to the area and, while enroute, learned that the suspect got off the train and was leaving the area on foot towards Providence Medical Center."
The statement said that the police considered the attacker's rant as hate speech. It further added that the man was in custody of the police and that there was no further threat to the public. The police also said that the three victims did not know the attacker and were only trying to protect the passengers travelling in the train.
Simpson said that one of the passengers who intervened was stabbed and died on the spot while the other died in a hospital. The third passenger was injured and is undergoing treatment for non-life-threatening wounds at a hospital.
Simpson added that it is still not known whether the man was in an inebriated state or was under the influence of drugs or had mental health issues.
