Portland killer yells in court: ‘You call it terrorism, I call it patriotism’

Jeremy Christian, the man who’s accused of stabbing to death two people who tried to defend a Muslim woman from his Islamophobic tirade at a Portland train station, appeared in court this Tuesday only to shout slogans like “free speech or die” and “death to the enemies of America” as he was arraigned on murder charges.

According to NBC News, Christian showed no remorse during his appearance as one of the people he wounded, Micah Fletcher, sat looking on at the spectacle in the courtroom.

“Free speech or die, Portland. You got no safe place,” Christian said as he was being led into court from the holding area. “This is America. Get out if you don’t like free speech.”

“You call it terrorism, I call it patriotism,” he yelled. He also yelled “death to the enemies of America” and “death to antifa,” referring to “anti-fascist” groups that have taken part in clashes against Trump supporters at rallies around the country.

From NBC:

According to court documents, witnesses said Christian seemed to target the two African-American girls, one of whom was wearing Muslim dress, with comments like “I don’t care if you are ISIS” and “Go home, we need Americans here.”

Video taken on the train shows Christian appear to conceal a folding-style knife in his hand while challenging Namkai Meche and Fletcher to “do something” before stabbing Fletcher in the neck, according to court documents.

Christian then stabbed Namkai Meche and stabbed Best, who had stepped in to intervene, according to court documents. Best died at the scene and Namkai Meche was pronounced dead at a hospital, police said.

Footage of Fletcher sitting in the courtroom audience was posted to Twitter by KATU News:

CNN also shared video of Christian on a bus one day before the attack making racist comments and threatening to stab people:

Featured image via screen grab

Sky Palma

Before launching DeadState back in 2012, Sky Palma has been blogging about politics, social issues and religion for over a decade. He lives in Los Angeles and also enjoys Brazilian jiu jitsu, chess, music and art.