A teenager is thanking the men who sacrificed their lives and safety after they stepped in to defend her and her friend from an anti-Muslim attack.
Destinee Mangum, 16, was aboard the Metropolitan Area Express train with a friend in Portland, Ore., Friday, May 26 when Jeremy Joseph Christian, 35, began spewing hate speech at the girls.
“He told us to go back to Saudi Arabia and he told us we shouldn’t be here, and to get out of his country,” Magnum tells Fox 12 Saturday. “He was just telling us that we basically weren’t anything and that we should kill ourselves.”
Frightened, Mangum and her 17-year-old Muslim friend decided to move to the back of the train when a stranger stepped in to help. He began arguing with Christian, who The Portland Mercury reported is a known white supremacist.
“Me and my friend were going to get off the MAX and then we turned around while they were fighting and he just started stabbing people,” Mangum says, “and it was just blood everywhere and we just started running for our lives.”
Christian is being held without bail on several charges, including two counts of aggravated murder for the deaths of Army veteran Ricky John Best, 53, who was pronounced dead at the scene, and college graduate Taliesin Myrddin Namkai Meche, 23, who died at a local hospital, The Washington Post reported. Christian also is being held one count of attempted murder for attacking Micah David-Cole Fletcher, 21, who has been treated for nonlife-threatening injuries.
“I just want to say thank you to the people who put their life on the line for me because they didn’t even know me and they lost their lives because of me and my friend and the way we look,” Magnum says to the local news station. “And I just want to say thank you to them and their family, and that I appreciate them because, without them, we probably would be dead right now.”
Twitter users have given their support to Magnum assuring her that she is not to blame for what happened.
#DestineeMangum my prayers are with you. This is not your fault, and I too, am so thankful for the fine heroes that saved your life. https://t.co/4no3QsZgeQ
— I'm Amy 🌈 (@_JustAsIAmy) May 29, 2017
They did not die because of you. They died because of a hateful, ignorant, pathetic, EMBOLDENED piece of trash. https://t.co/Slieadp763
— Chris Evans (@ChrisEvans) May 29, 2017
https://twitter.com/spidermann/status/869243526965469187
@fox12oregon Peace to you Destinee. None of this is on you. NONE.
— #theorb it works. (@gdtrble) May 28, 2017
