May 31, 2017
Page 5
Police investigate a double murder on a Max train near the Hollywood Transit Center on Friday.
Taliesin Myrddin Namkai Meche, 23, and Ricky John Best, 53, were killed as they tried to stop a man
from harassing two women on a Max light-rail train. Another who stepped in was seriously injured.
Standing Up to Hate
C ontinued froM f ront
Mangum told news station
KPTV that she and her 17-year-old
friend were riding the train when
Christian started yelling at them.
She said her friend is Muslim, but
she’s not.
“He told us to go back to Saudi
Arabia, and he told us we shouldn’t
be here, to get out of his country,”
Mangum said. “He was just telling
us that we basically weren’t any-
thing and that we should kill our-
selves.”
The teens moved toward the
back of the train, preparing to get
off at the next stop.
“And then we turned around
while they were fighting, and he
just started stabbing people, and it
was just blood everywhere, and we
just started running for our lives,”
Mangum said.
Micah David-Cole Fletcher, 21,
was stabbed in the neck. His girl-
friend, Miranda Helm, told The
Oregonian/OregonLive that he was
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recovering his strength in the hos-
pital.
A day before the attack, cell-
phone video confirmed by police
Sgt. Pete Simpson shows Christian
using expletives as he rants about
Muslims, Christians and Jews on a
train. At one point, he threatens to
stab the driver of the train Thurs-
day, according to video from a pas-
senger posted by TV station KOIN.
Simpson says police also are
investigating an incident that day
involving Christian and a black
woman on the train, but he didn’t
immediately respond to emails
seeking additional details.
Christian served prison time
after holding up employees at a
convenience store with a gun in
2002, court records show. He went
back after pleading guilty in 2011
to being a felon in possession of a
firearm. He was behind bars again
in 2013 for violating a condition of
his release, according to court re-
cords.
Tomica Clark told The Ore-
gonian/OregonLive that she has
known Christian since elementary
school. She said she was surprised
to hear people call Christian racist.
Clark is black and said Christian
had many black friends.
“He never disrespected me,”
Clark said, but added that he
changed after he got out of prison.
“Prison took the real him away,”
she said.
--The Associated Press