A car related to a shooting on Woodford Street in Portland on Tuesday is loaded onto a flatbed tow truck as a Portland police officer surveys the ground nearby. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer
A man was killed and a woman injured during an early morning shooting on Woodford Street in Portland on Tuesday.
Police did not release any information about what may have led to the shooting just after 1 a.m. on the 100 block of Woodford Street. Police had not made an arrest as of Tuesday night. The identities of the 43-year-old man who died and the 27-year-old woman who was wounded have not been released.
Major Robert Martin, in an email Tuesday night, said Portland police hope to identify the shooting victims on Wednesday. Police are in the process of notifying their families.
An autopsy was conducted Tuesday by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Augusta. A spokesperson for the medical examiner said the cause and manner of the man’s death are being withheld at the request of the Maine Attorney General’s Office.
Officers called to the neighborhood by reports of the sound of gunshots and an argument involving a group of people found the man and the woman in the road. Both had been shot.
Both were taken to Maine Medical Center. The man did not survive his wounds, said David Singer, the police department spokesperson. The woman’s wounds were not believed to be life-threatening. A man who claimed to be the victims’ friend told WGME-TV that the woman was shot in the shoulder and that a bullet went through a hat she was wearing.
The section of Woodford Street where the shooting occurred, between Forest Avenue and Melrose Street, is near a busy intersection. It is known locally as Woodfords Corner, a bustling residential and commercial neighborhood within easy walking distance of Back Cove that is represented by a nonprofit organization called the Friends of Woodfords Corner. The historic Odd Fellows Block, built in 1897, is located at the corner of Woodford Street and Forest Avenue.
The neighborhood is lined with residences, many of them rentals, and nearby businesses include a tattoo shop, a nail salon, a martial arts school, barber shops, a grocer and a restaurant serving Colombian street food.
Investigators spent most of the morning at the scene, which was roped off with crime scene tape as officers filled evidence bags. The road was closed until 11 a.m. A black Range Rover with Maine license plates was towed from the scene around 10:45 a.m. Shortly before 11 a.m., police cleared the tape and the road was open again.
The investigation continued into the afternoon hours. Two local TV stations showed images of investigators searching under manhole covers for evidence.
A woman who lives near where the shooting took place told News Center Maine that she went outside and saw a group of people arguing sometime after midnight. The woman, who declined to giver her last name, went behind her building before hearing several loud bangs that sounded like fireworks.
After hearing the gunfire she went inside her home and hid behind boxes that had been stacked in her kitchen.
Owners of nearby businesses and residents who live in the area were shocked to learn of the shooting.
“I see people with dogs, not people with guns,” Kaitlin Briggs said on Tuesday afternoon.
Briggs was walking the stretch of street that had been closed in the morning and lives about 10 minutes away.
“All during COVID, I walked everywhere, and I walk in this area quite a lot,” Briggs said. “Every once in a while, there’s something odd, but not gang warfare or anything.”
Ben Parker lives on a street close to Woodfords Corner. In his two years in the area, he said, he’s found it fairly safe.
“I was asleep and I didn’t hear anything. I just saw a cop car this morning, over there,” he said.
Businesses behind Woodford Street, on much busier Forest Avenue, were closed at the time of the shooting.
“This area, especially Forest Avenue, is a very safe area,” said Muhammed Alrammahi, a barber for Lion King Barbershop, which has been in the neighborhood for about a year. “But you know, you never know. Anything could happen, even in a nice neighborhood.”
Anyone with information that could assist Portland police in their investigation is asked to call 207-874-8575. People also can leave an anonymous message on the department’s Crime Tip line 207-874-8584.
Staff Writer Dennis Hoey contributed to this story
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
