AUBURN — Prosecutors said Monday there was an eyewitness in the fatal shooting of an 18-year-old Lewiston man on Halloween night.
Abdikadir Nur Lewiston Police Department
A judge said statements by that person and other witnesses support the murder charge against Abdikadir Nur, 20, of 303 Aspen Court.
The judge also ruled that Nur should be held without bail until trial.
Nur is charged with intentional or knowing murder of Hassan Hassan on the night of Oct. 31 in Lewiston, a charge that carries a penalty of 25 years to life in prison.
Assistant Attorney General Megan Elam told a judge in Androscoggin County Superior Court that an affidavit written by a Maine State Police detective describes one of the witnesses as having been in the same car as the victim shortly before the shooting on River Street in Lewiston. Elam described the witness as an “ally” of the victim.
In the affidavit, that same “witness describes seeing the defendant shoot the victim in this case,” Elam said. In the affidavit, that witness referred to the shooter by the street name “Polo.”
Another witness referenced in the affidavit is described by Elam as an “ally” of the defendant. That witness told police he drove the car in which someone whose nickname was “Larry” had been a passenger. Elam said the driver knows Nur as “Larry.”
His statements corroborate those given by the witness who saw the shooting, Elam said
Elam said police identified Nur as having the nicknames of Larry and Polo.
The driver said he heard multiple gunshots, but didn’t claim to see who fired them.
That statement corroborates what was found at scene, including ammunition from two different caliber weapons.
After the shooting, “who runs away? It’s Mr. Nur,” Elam said.
The witness in the victim’s car says she saw “Polo” flee the scene.
When the driver of the car picks up Larry aka Polo, he gets into the car and says, “one dropped,” Elam said, referring to his quote in the affidavit.
Police who viewed surveillance tape of “Larry” being dropped off at the Clarion Hotel in Portland later that night identified him as Nur, but doesn’t say how he knows it’s the same person.
“We think there’s ample evidence from the affidavit to support a finding of probable cause,” which requires a lower standard of proof in criminal law, Elam told the judge.
Defense attorney Verne Paradie told Justice Valerie Stanfill on Monday that the information in the police affidavit fell short of establishing probable cause.
At this type of hearing, “the defendant is afforded the opportunity to know and rebut the case against him, “Paradie said. “I’m not entirely sure that … we’re able to do that based on what’s in front of us.”
Paradie sought to cast doubt on the evidence presented in the affidavit, starting with a statement by the victim’s sister who said she believes Polo is Mr. Nur.
“There’s no evidence of how or why she knows that,” Paradie said.
She and the victim’s cousin told the officers that her friend and brother and allies are in a beef over a drug overdose that happened earlier in Lewiston, Paradie said. Both sides had been feuding over who was responsible for the drug-related death.
That suggests her motivation, Paradie said.
She wasn’t shown a photo to identify Nur as Polo, Paradie said.
In the affidavit, Nur is called “Larry” by some witnesses and “Polo” by other witnesses.
The victim’s cousin didn’t mention anything about “Larry,” Paradie said.
A Lewiston detective identifies Polo as Nur in the affidavit but, there’s no evidence presented to provide a basis or reliability for his assertion, Paradie argued.
The witness who drove the shooter and two other passengers to the location of the shooting that night mentions the street names Meech, TI and Larry, but never mentions the name “Polo,” Paradie said.
That same witness told police he dropped off TI and Larry. Then he heard shooting.
“He says that TI returns to the vehicle; no Larry,” Paradie said.
The driver told police he recognized the smell of gunpowder from hunting. He said TI smelled like gunpowder. Meech asked the driver to dispose of clothing.
“So, it’s a logical conclusion that this TI could have been the shooter and he asks Meech to dispose of the clothing,” Paradie said. “And (TI) comes back saying, he’s bragging, ‘That will teach them to f*** with us.’”
After the shooting, Meech told the driver to meet him and TI at a girl’s house in Lewiston.
The driver was told to pick up “Larry” at addresses in Auburn that have no connection to Nur, Paradie said.
“The whole affidavit tries to link this Larry character to an individual named Polo who is believed to be Mr. Nur,” Paradie said.
The other witness, who was in the victim’s car, claims she saw a man named Polo shoot Hassan, Paradie said.
Other people in that same car didn’t say they also witnessed the shooting, Paradie said.
That witness said “she had a beef” with Polo because she claims he had assaulted her in the past. She had later set him up to have his cellphone stolen, Paradie said.
“Her motivation in fabricating a story is significant,” Paradie said.
Along with other inconsistencies in the affidavit, her version of seeing the shooter or shooters getting out of their vehicle differs from the driver of that vehicle, Paradie said.
She told police that Hassan threw a bat at “Polo” before the shooting, according to the affidavit.
“She certainly indicated that the victim initiated this contact,” Paradie said.
Justice Stanfill said the affidavit would be “pretty flawed” in establishing probable cause to support the murder charge if not for the statements of both the witness in the victim’s vehicle and the driver of the other vehicle supporting each other.
Despite the possible “ill will” toward Nur borne by the witness in the victim’s car, the fact that she claimed to have been an eye witness to the shooting coupled with other circumstantial evidence supports a finding or probable cause, Stanfill said.
“There are inconsistencies (and) there are many unanswered questions (and) witnesses who we don’t know what they say,” Stanfill said.
She said, “There is a substantial risk that (Nur) poses a danger to others, or in the community, as well as committing new criminal conduct,” if he were released from jail.
Nur, shackled and wearing an orange jail suit, watched the court hearing from Androscoggin County Jail via videoconference.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
