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A Portland police officer responded to an assault complaint and identified Jeremy Christian as the primary suspect the day before he stabbed three men on a MAX train, according to a statement released today by the Portland Police Bureau.
Christian allegedly threw a plastic Gatorade bottle at a woman's face, hitting her in the eye, near the fountain at the Rose Quarter Transit Station.
An unnamed officer responded to the call and interviewed the victim and witnesses. According to a statement released by the Police Bureau, the victim initially identified Christian as her attacker, then twice denied he was the attacker. However, when Christian walked away from the scene the victim again pointed him out to the officer as the man who threw the bottle.
"During traumatic incidents such as this, officers often interview people who need more time to process the information," the PPB statement says.
The officer decided to wait for another officer to arrive on scene before attempting to arrest Christian, but by the time a second cop arrived Christian had left the scene.
The next day, Christian harassed two black teens on a MAX train, one of whom was wearing a hijab. He hurled anti-Muslim insults at the girls, and when three men stepped in to stop him, Christian allegedly pulled out a knife and stabbed them. Rick Best and Taliesin Myrddin Namkai-Meche died in the attack, and Micah David-Cole Fletcher survived with grave injuries.