Portland police arrested a 20-year-old Westbrook man on charges of murder and elevated aggravated assault Thursday in the fatal shooting of a 19-year-old man at a recording studio in the city’s Old Port.
Police said Johnny Ouch was arrested without incident around 11 a.m. at a residence at 73 East Valentine St. in Westbrook. He was being held without bail in the Cumberland County Jail in Portland.
Treyjon Arsenault was killed around midnight May 25 when one or more people began firing inside Da Block Studios Inc., an independent studio at the corner of Market and Fore streets. Portland police haven’t revealed a motive.
Arsenault and a 21-year-old Portland man, who hasn’t been identified, were shot, police said. Arsenault was pronounced dead at Maine Medical Center. The second victim survived and is recovering from his wounds.
Arsenault was shot multiple times in the abdomen. Police have said he was among seven to 11 people at the rap recording studio on the building’s third floor.
During a news conference at the police station Thursday afternoon, Chief Michael Sauschuck would not say whether detectives have other suspects.
“This is an ongoing complex investigation, so I won’t be able to release a lot of other details here this afternoon,” he said. “We certainly want to take an opportunity again to send out our condolences to the families of both of the victims, certainly the Arsenault family and the surviving victim and his family, for all they have gone through.”
Sauschuck would not say whether police recovered any firearms. He also declined to say whether the second shooting victim had cooperated with the investigation. Police initially had difficulty interviewing him because he was on medication, but he has since been released from Maine Medical Center.
“He is still recovering from the gunshot,” Sauschuck said.
He said Ouch was living at the 73 East Valentine St. residence. The chief also confirmed the unusual spelling of the suspect’s name.
“I asked that question 15 times before the press conference,” Sauschuck said.
Nancy Laxson, Arsenault’s mother, declined to speak about Ouch’s arrest.
“I’m really feeling overwhelmed right now,” Laxson said when contacted at her home Thursday evening. “And I don’t feel like talking.”
A check of state records Thursday indicated that Ouch has no adult criminal convictions.
The Westbrook home where he had been living appears to be a multifamily apartment building. The light-green, two-story home with white trim has been well-maintained.
A man and a woman were standing in the driveway next to the home when a Portland Press Herald photographer and reporter arrived late Thursday afternoon.
The woman, who had been crying, was asked if she was Ouch’s mother. She shook her head no. “There is no story here. I don’t want to talk to you,” she said. The man said he couldn’t talk about Ouch. Neither would identify themselves.
In late May, hundreds of family members, Westbrook High School students, football players and friends attended Arsenault’s funeral in Portland. Arsenault, a former varsity football player, graduated from Westbrook High last year.
One of his best friends, Nicholai Kotsimpulos of Portland, organized a vigil for Arsenault on the courts in Westbrook where they played basketball together. He was relieved to hear that Portland police had made an arrest in his friend’s murder investigation.
“I was happy,” Kotsimpulos said Thursday evening. “It turned my day upside down. I think about Trey all the time.”
Kotsimpulos, 19, said he knows Ouch but has not spoken with him in years. Kotsimpulos said he and Arsenault attended the same day care as Ouch when they were younger. Kotsimpulos wasn’t able to offer more details about Ouch’s background, but hopes his arrest will bring some sense of closure to his parents.
“(The arrest) is not going to bring Trey back, but I am glad this kid is off the streets,” he said.
A Cumberland County Jail official said Thursday night that Ouch had not yet been given a court date.
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