OREGON – The city of Portland, Oregon, in the US honored two men killed in an attack while defending teens thought to be Muslim.

Two good Samaritans, 23-year-old Taliesin Myrddin Namkai-Meche and 53-year-old Ricky John Best, were stabbed to death by 35-year-old Jeremy Joseph Christian  on MAX train last Friday after trying to stop him from harassing two young teens.

Micah Fletcher, a third victim who survived the attack, issued a statement honoring the two who died and offering support to the city’s Muslims.

“I want the Muslim community to know that they have a home here in Portland and are loved,” Fletcher said in the statement cited by ABC News on Tuesday, May 30.

“I want to honor the families who lost their brave fathers, sons, and brothers and I want the media and the country to honor those families. I want to send my condolences and honor those families.”

The 21-year-old Fletcher is a poet who won a 2013 poetry competition with a poem that condemned the mistreatment of Muslims, according to The Oregonian newspaper.

Muslims in Portland, Oregon, have thanked the community for its support and said they were raising money for the families of the victims.

Muhammad A. Najieb, an imam at the Muslim Community Center, said a fundraising page launched by his group for the families of the dead men, a surviving victim and the two young women had raised $50,000 in its first hours.