By Jayati Ramakrishnan
oregonlive.com
PORTLAND, Ore. — A 24-year-old Indiana man is facing several charges of attempted murder after he was arrested in Indiana in connection with Portland demonstrations from last fall and is accused of throwing Molotov cocktails at officers on two separate occasions.
Malik Muhammed, 24, was arrested Friday in Indianapolis on multiple warrants. He faces charges of first- and second-degree attempted murder, attempted aggravated murder, unlawful manufacture of a destructive device and unlawful use of a weapon.
A grand jury indicted Muhammed on March 22 on 28 criminal counts, according to the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office. Investigators believe Muhammed traveled from Indiana to Portland specifically to commit those crimes and then returned home, prosecutors said.
Muhammed’s charges stemmed from four different occasions, three in September and one in October, the District Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
Police said Muhammed is suspected of throwing an incendiary device, which did not explode, at police officers at the Penumbra Kelly Building, a Southeast Portland building that houses some Portland Police and Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office operations, on Sept. 21.
Police said he also threw a firebomb that scorched the uniform of an officer at a demonstration on Sept. 23, near the intersection of Southwest Second Avenue and Main Street in downtown. Protesters had gathered to protest the decision not to charge police officers in the death of Breonna Taylor, a Black woman who was fatally shot by police in Louisville, Kentucky.
Police had initially arrested another person for throwing the Molotov cocktail on Sept. 23. Joseph Sipe, 23, had been charged with attempted murder, attempted assault, arson and unlawful possession of a destructive device. But prosecutors declined to charge Sipe, saying he did not appear to be the person who threw the incendiary device at police.
He is also suspected of breaking windows at the Oregon Historical Society and other downtown buildings on Oct. 11, police said. Muhammed was arrested after that case, and police said they found a loaded pistol magazine in his pocket that matched a gun that was found nearby.
At least half a dozen protesters broke windows at the Oregon Historical Society and other buildings downtown during an event protest organizers billed as an “Indigenous Day of Rage.” The event was declared a riot, and three were arrested.
Muhammed is in the Marion County Jail in Indiana.
(c)2021 The Oregonian (Portland, Ore.)