A prosecutor used photos to describe the last moments in the lives of MAX train passengers Ricky Best and Taliesin Namkai-Meche before Jeremy Christian repeatedly jabbed a 4-inch knife into their necks and faces as horrified passengers watched.

As the double murder trial began Tuesday, prosecutor Don Rees told jurors that no one on the train realized Christian had pulled the folding knife out of the pocket of his baggy shorts when he got into a shoving match with passenger Micah Fletcher. Fletcher had told Christian to “shut up” and get off the train because Christian had launched into a loud hate-filled rant.

As Christian began stabbing, passengers thought the clash had turned into a fistfight, Rees said, before realizing blood was spurting from the men’s necks.

“One witness will tell you that … she thought it was raining” before she recognized it wasn’t water falling, but blood, Rees said.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys made their opening statements to a packed courtroom .

Christian entered the courtroom and almost immediately blurted: “You guys ready to smash Portland’s fairy tale? … Hate crime?” Christian indicated he was eager for those in the courtroom to watch video of the May 26, 2017, stabbings .

He is charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Best, 53, and Namkai-Meche, 23, the attempted first-degree murder of Fletcher, then 21, and second-degree intimidation for allegedly launching into a hate-filled tirade against two teenage girls on the train, one who was wearing a hijab.

No one — not even Christian’s defense team — disputes that he stabbed the men. The trial will determine whether Christian, 37, should be held responsible, and if so, for what crimes.

During his opening remarks, Rees said Christian made the first two shoves — at Namkai-Meche, who apparently was about to start recording Christian with his phone, and Fletcher, who had walked across part of the train to tell Christian to get off. Fletcher ended up shoving Christian three times before Christian started his stabbing spree.

“It happened so fast,” Rees said, referencing a still frame from TriMet surveillance video. “As you can see, Taliesin is still looking at his phone as the blade goes into Micah Fletcher’s neck.”

An instant later, Rees showed jurors a photo of the blade entering Namkai-Meche’s neck. The shock on Namkai-Meche’s face as his body shrinks away from Christian is apparent.

At that instant, Best stood up from his seat and Christian stabbed him, severing an artery . Christian stabbed Namkai-Meche and Best repeatedly in the neck and face, with force so powerful that one of Best’s molars broke, Rees said.

“The evidence will show Mr. Best wasn’t really doing anything,” Rees said. “He wasn’t saying anything. He wasn’t moving. He wasn’t waving his arms. He was just standing there.”

Rees added: “From start to finish that stabbing attack took 12 seconds. And again you’ll see on the video that none of the men who were on the video ever threw a punch.”

Rees said even though Fletcher shoved Christian, Christian’s response was vastly disproportionate and unreasonable.

Defense attorney Dean Smith, however, countered the prosecution’s characterization by saying all three men confronted Christian about his rant.

The starkest contrast was the defense’s description of Best, who Smith said was “wrestling” with Christian before he was stabbed.

“When you are defending yourself against three attackers, you cannot successfully defend yourself with hands,” Smith said.

Smith did agree with the prosecution, however, that passengers were unaware that Christian had a knife.

“They thought it was a fistfight,” Smith said.

The defense contended Christian wasn’t acting out based on racist beliefs.

Christian didn’t stab any racial minorities, including the teenage girls, that afternoon, Smith said.

“African Americans, other minorities, none of them were injured,” he said.

“This wasn’t some wild killing spree on the MAX that day. The only ones who were injured were the ones who confronted Mr. Christian.”