Hero stabbed to death while protecting his trans coworker

Friends, family, and co-workers in Portland are in shock over the death of 32-year-old Colin Smith, who died last week when he was mortally wounded in a stabbing attack while protecting a trans colleague.

In the early hours of July 2, Smith and a group of co-workers from The Ox restaurant were outside the nearby High Dive Bar in Portland’s Buckman neighborhood when a young man became hostile with a trans colleague and began shouting slurs.

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According to Smith’s former girlfriend, Paulina Solis, the group was having trouble with the man, now identified as Rahnique Jackson, 24, who had been touching their colleague inappropriately.

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Smith stepped in and was stabbed repeatedly by Jackson, according to witnesses, before dropping to the ground. The suspect fled the scene.

Police responded to the bar at around 1:49 a.m. on Sunday.

Jackson was apprehended by U.S. Marshalls five days later and was expected to be arraigned on charges of second-degree murder and unlawful use of a weapon.

The District Attorney’s office hasn’t determined if the stabbing was a hate crime.

“He loved those around him unconditionally,” Solis told Oregon Live about Smith. “He always looked out for the people that got overlooked.”

She called him “a protector.”

Smith was a Salt Lake native and a longtime worker in the Portland restaurant industry. He’d been front of house at The Ox for two years before he and his co-workers headed out to the restaurant workers’ watering hole after closing.

“He was always the first person to be like, ‘Hey, how are you doing? Are you in the weeds? You need help, what do you need?’” Devin Lee, a fellow Ox server, shared with Eater Portland.

“He was quick to tell you he loved you, all the time,” added Lee. “He said it to all the guys at Ox. It would catch them off-guard. That was just Colin; he just loved.”

“On my first day, Colin was the first person to walk up to me and introduce himself,” recalled Mark Knudsen, general manager at The Ox. “Immediately feeling that sense of compassion in Colin, right off the bat, it really just had such a huge effect on me in such a positive way.”  

Danielle Smith, Colin’s sister, said her brother died a hero.

“It shouldn’t have happened anywhere, but it’s scary and I just don’t think anyone should be scared to defend your friends because of this,” she told KOIN News. “We have to have more Colins out there, you know, and slowly there can be some change maybe.”

Solis said when Colin and Danielle were children, their mother would ask what they wanted to be when they grew up. Colin would tell her, “A rainbow.”

“Everyone felt like Colin was such a bright light for them,” Solis said. “If they knew that they were going to see Colin, it was something to look forward to.

“He was so loved.”