President Trump on Monday condemned a fatal stabbing with anti-Muslim overtones in Portland, Ore., as “unacceptable.”
Portland police said that two men were fatally stabbed last Friday when they tried stopping a man who was yelling anti-Muslim slurs at two women.
{mosads}Spokesman Sgt. Pete Simpson told The Oregonian that the suspect was using “hate speech or biased language” while riding a MAX train.
The man reportedly began yelling at two women who appeared Muslim, one of whom was wearing a hijab.
Two other passengers attempted to intervene, leading the suspect to attack and ultimately kill them and injure a third person.
Reports have since identified the two men who died as Taliesin Myrddin Namkai Meche, 23, and Ricky John Best, 53. Micah David-Cole Fletcher, 21, was injured but did not sustain life-threatening injuries.
Police on early Saturday arrested 35-year-old Jeremy Joseph Christian and charged him with two counts of aggravated murder, one count of attempted murder, two counts of second degree intimidation and one count of being a felon in possession of a restricted weapon.
Trump was overseas on the first foreign trip of his presidency on Friday, which was also the start of Islam’s holy month of Ramadan at sundown.
He issued the condemnation on the official @POTUS Twitter account. He has yet to mention the attack on his personal @realDonaldTrump account, which has almost 31 million followers.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Saturday tweeted that incident is “heartbreaking,” adding that “no one should have to endure this racist abuse.”
“No one should have to give their life to stop it,” the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee added.