A Multnomah County grand jury indicted Adrian Austin Cummins Friday on 12 charges, including attempted murder, stemming from the Sept. 2 stabbing that injured two 17-year-olds on a MAX train in Southeast Portland.
The charges are one count of attempted murder in the second degree, one count of assault in the first degree, one count of assault in the second degree, two counts of bias crime in the first degree, one count of robbery in the first degree, three counts of unlawful use of a weapon, one count of interfering with public transportation, one count of attempted assault in the first degree and one count of attempted assault in the second degree. Cummins, 25, is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday.
Earlier this week, Judge Steffan Alexander granted a motion from the district attorney’s office that prevents Cummins from being released from custody while the trial is pending.
On Sept. 2, Portland police officers responded to reports of a stabbing on the TriMet platform at 9598 S.E. Flavel St. in the Lents neighborhood just after 5:45 p.m. They found the two 17-year-olds with stab wounds.
The assault began inside the train and then the victims and suspect exited at the Lents platform, police said.
Cummins is also accused of robbing a convenience store at knifepoint just before the stabbings on the train.
Investigators believe Cummins, who is white, attacked the Black teenagers “because of his perception of the victims’ race,” police said.
Cummins had a warrant out for his arrest for failing to appear in court after being charged with unlawful use of a weapon and menacing someone with a knife in July, court records show. He was previously accused of fighting on a MAX platform in April.
— The Oregonian/OregonLive