One of the teenagers targeted by hate speech on a train in Portland, Ore., on Friday publicly thanked the two men who died after they came to her defense.
On Saturday, 16-year-old Destinee Mangum spoke to Fox 12 Oregon about the incident with tears in her eyes.
Destinee Mangum, one of the targets of hate speech on a MAX train, thanks strangers for saving her life. pic.twitter.com/sefmOAyIVt
— FOX 12 Oregon KPTV (@fox12oregon) May 28, 2017
“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,” Mangum said in the video. “They lost their lives because of me and my friend, and the way we looked. I just want to say thank you to them and their family, and that I appreciate them. Without them, we probably would be dead right now.”
BuzzFeed reports that Mangum was riding the MAX train with her 17-year-old friend when a man, now identified as 35-year-old Jeremy Joseph Christian, approached the girls and told them that Muslims should die. Mangum’s mother told The Oregonian that the girls tried to escape Christian’s advances, but he persisted.
Three men stepped up to help the girls, which prompted the stabbing that left two of the men dead. According to BuzzFeed, 53-year-old Ricky Best and 23-year-old Taliesin Namkai-Meche were killed, and 21-year-old Micah David-Cole Fletcher was injured.
Christian fled the scene on Friday and was arrested early Saturday morning. He has been charged with aggravated murder.