The Muslim teen targeted by Jeremy Christian in the moments before police and witnesses say he fatally stabbed two men aboard a MAX train in Portland no longer feels free from harm in the city where she grew up, the girl said in her first interview since the brutal slaying.

"Everywhere I go, I fear for my safety," Walia Mohamed said, according to a book excerpt published this week on the Literary Hub website.

Mohamed and the friend with her on the train, Destinee Mangum, spoke with author Arjun Singh Sethi for an upcoming volume titled "American Hate: Survivors Speak Out."

Mangum has spoken previously about the May 2017 attack, which stunned Portlanders and people across the nation.

In their joint interview, the girls, who are both black, recalled how they endured a torrent of racial abuse and hate speech from Christian after he boarded the eastbound Green Line at the Lloyd Center.

"As soon as he got on the train, he started yelling at us," Mohamed said. "'Muslims should die.' 'Go back to Saudi Arabia.'"

"It's like our faces were a trigger," she continued. "I felt like he was attacking me because I was wearing a hijab."

As Christian continued his racist rant, three Good Samaritans confronted him.

Witnesses say Christian then plunged a knife into the throats of Ricky Best, Taliesin Namkai-Meche and Micah Fletcher when the train pulled into the Hollywood Transit Center.

"When he started stabbing, we ran as fast as we could," Mohamed said.

Best and Namkai-Meche died that day. Fletcher barely survived.

Mohamed said the national attention following the attack forced her to keep a low profile.

"I hid because I didn't want the cameras on me," she said. "I had already been through so much. I just wanted my old life back."

Mangum said she has received death threats in the months since and that she and Mohamed have struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Mohamed, a Somali immigrant, said she has stopped wearing her hijab.

"I'm still Muslim, but I just don't follow certain traditions because I feel unsafe," she said. "I feel like I'm going to get attacked again."

Christian faces murder charges and remains lodged in the Multnomah County jail.

His trial is scheduled for June 2019.

-- Shane Dixon Kavanaugh

skavanaugh@oregonian.com

503-294-7632 || @shanedkavanaugh