Who Are the Two US Men Who Died For Saving Muslim Woman?
Portland, 2 Ramadan 1438/28 May 2017 (MINA) – On Friday afternoon, two teenage girls, one of them Muslim and wearing a headscarf, boarded a train in Portland, BBC reported.
According to witnesses, they attracted the attention of Jeremy Joseph Christian, 35. Dyjuana Hudson – mother to one of the girls – said he began “saying all Muslims should die”.
Sergeant Pete Simpson confirmed the “suspect was on the train and he was yelling and ranting and raving a lot of different things, including what would be characterised as hate speech or biased language”.
Three men, Taliesin Myrddin Namkai-Meche, Ricky John Best and Micah David-Cole Fletcher, then stepped in to help the girls. Ms Hudson told the Oregonian that one of them said: “You can’t get at them like that — they’re little girls.”
But the suspect then turned on the girls’ defenders. Sgt Simpson said: “Some of the people that he was yelling at, they were attacked viciously by the suspect, resulting in the two deaths and one injury.”
Apparently unaware of how badly injured their defenders were, the two terrified girls fled, calling Ms Hudson for help.
Mr Christian was arrested shortly after he got off the train.
Namkai-Meche was one of two men who were stabbed to death on a train on Friday in Portland, Oregon.
Police named the other man who died as Ricky John Best, 53, a father of four and an Army veteran.
Another passenger was wounded before the attacker was arrested.
Police have identified the suspect as Jeremy Joseph Christian, 35, a convicted felon.
He is due to appear in court on Tuesday, charged with two counts of aggravated murder, attempted murder, intimidation and being a felon in possession of a restricted weapon, Reuters reported.
Mr Best was on his way home when he was attacked. He had spent 23 years serving in the US Army, retiring in 2012, according to the Oregon website Willamette Week. Since 2015, he had worked for the City of Portland.
His colleague Kareen Perkins told Oregon Live he was “the first person you would go to for help”.
Mr Namkai-Meche was on the phone to his aunt when the suspect confronted the girls. Mr Namkai-Meche’s aunt urged the economics graduate to get off the phone and film what was happening, KATU News reported.
“I didn’t mean for him to try to be a hero and get himself killed but he was trying to protect those two teenage girls,” she told the television station.
Mr Namkai-Meche’s mother paid tribute to her “dear baby boy” on Facebook.
“He was a hero and will remain a hero on the other side of the veil,” she wrote. “Shining bright star I love you forever.”
Ms Hudson, the mother of one of the girls, wrote on Facebook: “Thank you thank you thank you… You will always be our hero.”
The injured victim, Micah David-Cole Fletcher, remains in hospital.
Portland mayor Ted Wheeler said the “brave and selfless actions” of the three men “should serve as an example and inspiration to us all”.(T/RE1/RS5)
Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)
