Portland police made an arrest Friday in a shooting that seriously injured two people in the Old Port this month.

Tyreese Vargas, 19, of Westbrook is charged with attempted murder, two counts of elevated aggravated assault, reckless conduct with a firearm and two counts of violating conditions of release.

Vargas was found walking on Pearl Street on Friday and was taken into custody by a team of Portland officers along with agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigations Safe Street Task Force, according to a statement from Maj. Robert Martin of the Portland Police Department.

Remnants of crime scene tape remain on a light pole at the end of Wharf Street at Union Street on Sept. 12 after two people were injured in an early morning shooting. Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer

Martin said Vargas is being held at the Cumberland County Jail.

The shooting took place early on Sept. 12 in the area of 43 Wharf St. Two officers on foot patrol heard gunfire before 1 a.m. and found a 34-year-old man who had been shot several times, police said. The second victim, a 22-year-old woman, made it a short distance away and collapsed at the corner of Fore and Union streets.

The incident came just a few days after police announced they would be ramping up patrols amid a spike in violent crime. As of Sept. 9, there were 17 stabbings so far in the city in 2022 – a 31 percent increase from the same time last year – and shootings had more than doubled from the same point last year, with 42 reported.

Martin did not respond Friday night to an email seeking more information on the case, including an update on the condition of the victims, the motive for the shooting and whether Vargas knew the victims.

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