PORTLAND, Ore. — A man who stabbed two teens in a racial attack on a TriMet MAX train will spend 18 years in prison.
A judge sentenced Adrian Austin Cummins, 26, after he accepted a plea deal. On Monday, Cummins pleaded guilty to four charges in the September 2023 attack, including second-degree attempted murder, second-degree assault, first-degree attempted robbery and first-degree bias crime, Multnomah County District Attorney's (DA) Office said.
Oregon law defines bias crimes as any criminal act that targets a victim based on the suspect's perception of the victim's race, color, religion, sexual orientation, disability, gender identity or national origin.
The attack started on the MAX and continued onto the platform at the Southeast Flavel Street stop in the Lents neighborhood around 5:45 p.m. on Sept 2. Investigators said that the suspect stabbed two Black teenage boys, both 17, because of his perception of their race.
The boys were riding the MAX, when Cummins yelled a racial slur at them and attacked them. According to prosecutors, one teen was stabbed in the arm, the other in the chest — the knife nicking his heart. He was transported to a hospital, where it was found he had bleeding around his lungs and needed his chest open for surgery.
Both boys have since recovered from the attack and are back at school in the Parkrose School District.
Cummins is in custody in the Multnomah County Jail and will be taken to the Oregon Department of Corrections to serve his prison sentence. Following his sentence, Cummins will serve three years of post-prison supervision, according to the DA's office.