U.S. | Tue Jun 6, 2017 | 9:12pm EDT

Suspect in Oregon train stabbings indicted for murder

By Terray Sylvester | PORTLAND, ORE.

An Oregon grand jury on Tuesday returned a 15-count indictment against an ex-convict accused of harassing two African-American girls, one wearing a Muslim head scarf, then stabbing three men who intervened, killing two of them, aboard a Portland commuter train.

The suspect, Jeremy Christian, 35, who served time for a 2002 armed robbery conviction, was initially charged in a criminal complaint last week with nine felony counts from the bloody May 26 incident.

The indictment contains five additional counts and spares prosecutors the procedural step of having to present their case to a judge in a preliminary hearing to show they have sufficient cause to proceed to trial.

Christian is due to appear in court on Wednesday for an arraignment on the charges - two counts of aggravated murder, one count of attempted murder and multiple counts of assault, unlawful use of a weapon, intimidation and menacing.

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