A Portland man who is suspected in a shooting last month in the city’s Old Port pleaded not guilty Tuesday to a related federal charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Moses Okot, 27, has not been charged directly with the shooting and stabbing that injured two on Nov. 16 at the intersection of Market and Fore streets, but he was arrested within minutes of the incident with gunpowder residue on his hand and a gun on the floor of his car, according to court records.

Okot was on probation at the time of the shooting for being a getaway driver in a 2010 murder in Portland. Police at first arrested Okot on a probation violation charge and later added the federal weapons charge.

Okot entered his not guilty plea in U.S. District Court in Portland, where Magistrate Judge John H. Rich III ordered the lawyers in the case to be ready for trial on Feb. 1. Okot had earlier waived his right to a bail hearing and has been detained since his arrest.

State court records that are part of Okot’s case file for 2010 murder indicate that police may be preparing other charges against Okot for the shooting, including elevated aggravated assault, a Class A felony punishable by up to 30 years in state prison.

Police have been in no rush to charge Okot further in connection with the shooting because he already faces significant prison time if he is found to have violated his probation in the 2010 murder case and up to 10 years in prison for the federal gun charge.

Okot is scheduled to appear in state court in Portland on Friday morning for a probation revocation hearing. Okot pleaded guilty to a charge of felony murder on July 7, 2011, for being the getaway driver in the shooting death of 24-year-old Serge Mulongo. He was sentenced to three years of a 10-year sentence with 16 months credit for time served before his plea. The judge suspended the remainder of the sentence, and imposed a four-year probation term that runs through June 2017.

On Feb. 10, 2010, Mulongo was shot six times at close range as he was leaving his apartment building at the corner of Park Avenue and Weymouth Street. Okot was also accused of providing the latex gloves used by the gunman, Daudoit Butsitsi, 29, who is serving a 38-year sentence at the Maine State Prison.

In the Nov. 16 shooting, a police officer in the area heard the shots and chased Okot’s car down Oxford Street. Police arrested him after he abandoned the car and ran, police reports state.

A police report identifies the shooting victims as 22-year-old Mekonnen Berhe and 21-year-old Eric Malonda. One of them was shot multiple times and one was grazed, but police have declined to say which man suffered which injuries.

 

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