Jeremy Joseph Christian

Jeremy Joseph Christian, the man accused of aggravated murder in the brutal knife slayings of two good Samaritans on the MAX, has described himself as a sociopath and threatened to kill or stab people in Facebook postings online.

"I AM TROUBLE," he said in an April comment.

He has shared anti-Muslim memes, espoused Nazi beliefs and called Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh a "true patriot."

Christian, 35, was booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center on suspicion of aggravated murder and attempted murder early Saturday morning, records show. He was also arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor charges, according to records. He's being held without bail.

He has a criminal history, including felony robbery, kidnapping and weapon convictions, records show. When he was 20 years old, he was shot in the face by Portland police after he robbed a convenience store.

In October 2011, Christian was convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm in federal court and sentenced to time served, plus three years of supervised release. He violated the terms of his release several times – in August 2012 for testing positive in an urine test for use of "spice,'' or synthetic marijuana, and failing to attend treatment a month earlier. He agreed to to go to a residential re-entry center, but then violated supervision again by not staying at the re-entry center and was sentenced to another nine months in custody in 2013.

On his Facebook page, Christian has spoken of his Nazi sympathies and posted a picture of Adolf Hitler in an album he called "Good Stuff." The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks extremist groups, said his posts reflected "an individual all over the political spectrum but indicates that he holds some racist and other extremist beliefs."

In one post, he says: "I want a job in Norway cutting off the heads of people that Circumcize Babies....Like if you agree!!!"

In March, he told someone on Facebook: "Since you brought up Violence I'm gonna stab some masked up bitchs protesting Black Metal shows as soon as they touch me."

Last December, he posted a photo of the Jonestown Massacre, saying, "I hold Revolutionary Suicide in the Highest Esteem!!!"

Christian's friends on Facebook unfollowed him throughout the day Saturday. More than 40 had unfriended him by evening.

Christian was a participant in the April 29 "March for Free Speech" on 82nd Avenue in Montavilla. He posted an OregonLive video of the event to his Facebook page, referencing himself as "the Lizard King" as he walked among fellow protesters holding American flags and "Trump Make America Great Again" flags.

"Nobody likes me," Christian wrote when he shared the video.

Event organizer Joey Gibson has distanced himself from Christian. "We were clearly asking him to leave," he said in an interview Saturday.

Kathryn Townsend, who attended the event from Gig Harbor, Washington, said Christian was shunned after he showed up with a baseball bat.

"In my first career, I was a psychiatric nurse," Townsend said. "I thought, this guy is having a psychotic break."

Another video of the event shows Christian, standing in a Burger King parking lot and wrapped in a Revolutionary War-era American flag, casting Nazi salutes while shouting: "Die Muslims!"

Federal prosecutors are in contact with the FBI and local law enforcement to consider whether hate crime or civil rights charges may be added against Christian, Oregon's U.S. Attorney Billy J. Williams said Saturday.

"There's certainly a potential federal crimes could be added,'' Williams said. "We will look at all avenues working with our local partners. We just need to let the investigation progress.''

Portland police chief Mike Marshman sent a note to Muslim community leaders assuring them that investigators were working on the case and adding, "With Ramadan beginning this evening, please know that the Portland Police Bureau stands by your side and will have extra police patrols for you."

Portland police spokesman Sgt. Pete Simpson said Saturday morning that "certainly the detectives will be looking into his background."

Detectives know about his behavior at the April march, Simpson said.

On May 12, 2002, Christian handcuffed the owner of a North Portland market to a counter and stole cash and cigarettes. The robbery at Ed's Market, a convenience store at North Lombard Street and Vancouver Avenue, occurred shortly after the store's 10 p.m. closing.

Owner Bob Sung said at the time he was staying late to finish paperwork when a man walked in wearing a black ski mask, with openings cut out for the eyes, nose and mouth. He looked around the store to see whether anyone else was inside and then walked out.

"I immediately recognized him. I know all the customers' faces," Sung told The Oregonian at the time. "I thought he was just joking or kidding. But then he walked back in."

North Precinct Officer Chris Devlin fired three shots as he was chasing Christian, striking him in his cheek. He was then brought to Legacy Emanuel Hospital & Health Center, in serious condition.

The two men killed in the stabbing on the MAX train Friday were trying to intervene as another man yelled racial slurs at two young women who appeared to be Muslim, including one wearing a hijab, police have said.

The suspect's mother, Mary Christian, told the Huffington Post that "I can't imagine he would do anything like this, unless he was on drugs or something."

"He's been in prison, he's always been spouting anti-establishment stuff, but he's a nice person," she said. "I just can't imagine."

Isaiah Bostic, who attended Applegate Elementary with Christian but later lost touch, said he seemed like a regular kid when they were growing up. "I would never think he was that kind of dude," Bostic said. "I don't remember nothing like that."

People who Christian met through Portland's metal music scene were also shocked.

Robert Moon described Christian as gentle, but unpredictable. Christian was an extremely loyal friend, but also someone who needed mental health care, Moon said.

Moon is Native American, and he disputed characterizations of Christian as racist.

Brandie Leach had similar observations. She hadn't seen him at shows recently.

"When the metal music community turned him away the alt right community was like a safe space for him to express his anger," Leach wrote in a Facebook message. "I don't think he was driven by racism as much as he was a general hatred for most things and people."

In recent months, Christian frequently described himself on Facebook as a nihilist.

Neil Brookins said when he first heard about the stabbing, he immediately wondered if it was Christian. Then, when he learned the suspect had been ranting, he became really worried.

His worst suspicions, it appears, have turned out to be true.

Just last week, Brookins said, Christian came to his house and was acting strangely.

"He was being really wild. He couldn't stop talking," Brookins said. "He was almost talking to himself, ranting to himself."

Brookins said he tried, unsuccessfully, to get him to stop talking.

Christian's mental instability had been evident for years, Brookins said, though it got much worse when he got out of prison.

Brookins said that he was not aware of any formal diagnosis but he believed Christian was profoundly unstable. It's something he had tried to bring up with his friend.

"I said 'Jeremy, there's probably a pill out there that will chill you out, calm you down,'" Brookins said.

Christian was particularly susceptible to alcohol, Brookins said, and was a "belligerent" drunk. He wondered if he had been drinking Friday.

"It was pretty sunny the other day," he said. "So yeah, he might have had a couple beers."

Brookins and Christian have been friends since 1997, when they met at a Rammstein concert at the Roseland Theater, Brookins said. They then bonded over their love of industrial rock.

Brookins said he did not believe Christian was a white supremacist. He said his friend was a pagan and practices "ancestor worship." Brookins said he was particularly passionate in his opposition to monotheism, the belief that there is only one god.

Nobody answered the door Saturday afternoon at what is believed to be Christian's home, a two-story house on the corner of North Albina and Morgan.



Potted flowers and plants lined the front of the house. A window on the side of the house was propped up with a running fan.



A BMW bike with a for-sale sign dating it to 1976 was parked in front of the house, behind a white Chevy Cavalier.



A neighbor said there was nothing extraordinary about the family that lived across the street, where Christian lived with his parents.



"It's just the house on the corner," she said, declining to provide her name.

Friday marked the start of Ramadan, a month-long fast observed by most of the world's 1.6 billion Muslims. Portland is home to a rough estimate of about 50,000 Muslims of different ethnicities.

One of the men was pronounced deceased on the train, the other died at a hospital. A third passenger who tried to help was also stabbed, but is expected to survive.

The suspect was ranting about many things, using "hate speech or biased language," and at one point focused on the young women, Simpson said in a news conference Friday evening at the Hollywood/Northeast 42nd Avenue Transit Center.

Officers arrested the suspect as he ran from the Hollywood transit station into the neighborhood near Providence Portland Medical Center in Northeast Portland. A video appears to show the suspect taunting police officers before his arrest.

Simpson thanked witnesses who called 911 and reported where the suspect went and what he was wearing.

"It was really critical to us taking this man into custody. (He was) obviously very dangerous based on his actions," he said.

Police ask anyone who has information about the stabbing to call a non-emergency line, 503-823-3333.

-- Jim Ryan, Eder Campuzano, Elliot Njus, Fedor Zarkhin, Carli Brosseau, Jessica Greif and Rob Davis contributed.

-- Allan Brettman

abrettman@oregonian.com

503-294-5900

@allanbrettman