Police on Saturday identified the victims of Friday's stabbing attack aboard a MAX train in Northeast Portland.

Two men who died in the attack were identified as:

Ricky John Best, 53, of Happy Valley

Taliesin Myrddin Namkai-Meche, 23, of Southeast Portland

Best died at the scene of the attack, and Namkai-Meche died at a hospital.

Police said the victim injured in the attack was 21-year-old Micah David-Cole Fletcher of Southeast Portland. He remains in a Portland hospital, but his injuries are not believed to be life-threatening, police said.

Witnesses told The Oregonian/OregonLive that the three had intervened when a man yelled slurs at two teenagers, one of whom is black and the other of whom is Muslim and was wearing a hijab.

The man pulled out a knife, witnesses said, and stabbed the girls' three defenders.

Police later arrested Jeremy Joseph Christian, 35. He was booked early Saturday morning into the Multnomah County Detention Center on suspicion of aggravated murder and attempted murder.

Namkai-Meche's mother earlier identified him as a victim of the attack. He had graduated from Reed College last year with a degree in economics and worked in Portland.

Best was a city of Portland employee and an Army veteran who previously ran for political office in Clackamas County.

Portland restaurateur Nick Zukin has organized an online fundraiser for the families of the stabbing victims. A spokeswoman for GoFundMe, the platform hosting the fundraiser, said the company is working with Zukin to ensure all funds go to the victims and their families.

Another GoFundMe campaign seeks to raise funds for the man critically injured in the stabbing attack. Its organizer, Carlos Espinoza, said the victim is a friend. The GoFundMe spokeswoman said that campaign is also authentic, and that the company will similarly work with Espinoza.

-- Elliot Njus