Update: Jeremy Christian stood silently during his brief arraignment Wednesday morning until the end when he blurted out: "Not guilty of anything but defending myself against violent aggression by Micah Fletcher." Fletcher, one of the men that Christian is accused of stabbing, was in the courtroom and escorted out by deputies, his head down as he left.

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A Multnomah County grand jury has returned a 15-count indictment against Jeremy Joseph Christian, the 35-year-old arrested in the fatal stabbing of two men and wounding of another aboard a MAX train.

The indictment charges Christian with two counts of aggravated murder, one count of attempted aggravated murder, one count of first-degree assault, one count of second-degree assault, five counts of unlawful use of a weapon, three counts of second-degree intimidation and two counts of menacing.

Four of the charges stem from a harassment case on a MAX train the day before the May 26 knife attacks -- second-degree intimidation, second-degree assault, unlawful use of a weapon and menacing, according to court records.

Police confirmed they were investigating Christian's alleged involvement in a separate altercation with a black woman on May 25 at the Interstate Rose Quarter Station and reports that he had thrown a plastic bottle at the woman, who then sprayed him with mace.

DOCUMENT: Indictment

Christian is scheduled to be arraigned on the indictment at 8:40 a.m. Wednesday in Multnomah County Circuit Court.

On May 26, Christian is accused of pulling a knife and stabbing three men in the neck after they came to the aid of two girls on a light-rail train in Northeast Portland. Christian aimed a racist tirade at the girls, police and witnesses said. The folding knife's blade was 3-3/4 inches long, police said.

Christian began harassing the girls, ages 16 and 17, on the Green Line train when he boarded, witnesses said. One was African American. Her friend was wearing a hijab, a traditional Muslim headdress.

Police said Christian fatally stabbed Ricky Best, 53, of Happy Valley, and Taliesin Myrddin Namkai-Meche, 23, of Southeast Portland, in the neck. Best died on the train. Namkai-Meche was pronounced dead at a local hospital a short time later. Micah Fletcher, 21, survived the attack and attended Christian's initial court appearance last week.

Christian is also accused of menacing and threatening to use a knife against another passenger on the train named Shawn Forde, who had tried to calm Christian down as he was yelling racial and Islamophobic slurs, according to prosecutors.

Christian's mother and father, Fletcher, Forde, the two girls he's accused of harassing on the train on May 26 and the woman he's accused of harassing a day earlier, were among those who testified before the grand jury, according to the indictment.

During his brief initial court appearance on a nine-count criminal information on May 30, Christian made several outbursts, yelling "Free speech or die, Portland!'' and "Death to the enemies of America!''

A crowd gathered outside in the hallway erupted with their own shouts: "Bigot!" and "murderer!"

Christian remains in custody at the Multnomah County Detention Center.

-- Maxine Bernstein

mbernstein@oregonian.com

503-221-8212

@maxoregonian