Unsealed affidavit reveals new details in St. John Street shooting

Abdirahman Mahmoud, left, appears in court on May 8 with his attorney, Luke Rioux. Mahmoud pleaded not guilty to a murder charge in the death of Raoul Tshiyuka. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer

A recently unsealed affidavit reveals new details about how police identified the man accused of killing Raoul Tshiyuka in Portland early on March 2, but does not say if the men knew each other or what led to the shooting.

Raoul Tshiyuka Courtesy of Tshiyuka family

Abdirahman Mahmoud, 36, was arrested the same day he allegedly shot Tshiyuka in front of New Buja Belle, a bar on St. John Street near the Union Station Plaza Shopping Center. Tshiyuka was rushed to Maine Medical Center, where he later died.

Police have released few details in the nearly three months since the shooting and the affidavit filed by Detective Jessica Googins supporting Mahmoud’s arrest was impounded until after his arraignment.

Mahmoud pleaded not guilty to a murder charge this month and is being held without bail at the Cumberland County Jail.

It remains unclear whether police believe the men knew each other or if investigators have identified a motive in the shooting. A spokesperson for Portland police declined to answer those questions Friday citing the pending case.

Tshiyuka, 30, had gone to the bar around 12:30 p.m. with his uncle, Herve Amani, to meet up with friends, according to the affidavit. When they arrived, Tshiyuka walked up to an SUV parked outside and began talking to the two men inside it as if he was familiar with them, Amani told police. Amani said Tshiyuka introduced him to the men, then Amani headed inside the bar to order drinks.

When his nephew still hadn’t come in a few minutes later, Amani said he went back outside to check on him. Tshiyuka was still talking to the men in the SUV and told Amani he was good, the affidavit said. Amani waited inside for a few more minutes, then again checked on Tshiyuka, who said he was fine, according to police.

Shortly after, a bar owner came into the bar and told everyone to shut off the lights and leave because someone had just gotten shot. A witness later told police he had heard a noise that he thought was a tire popping, the affidavit states.

Everyone left the bar and Amani rushed to his nephew, who lay facedown in the road, Googins wrote.

Portland police responded early March 2 to a report of an injured man in the area of 263 St. John St. They found Raoul Tshiyuka, 30, and transported him to Maine Medical Center, where he later died. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

After Tshiyuka was taken to the hospital, police began talking with people who had been at the bar and reviewing surveillance video from the area. The license plate of the SUV was visible in the footage, which led them to Mahmoud.

The investigators said video footage showed Mahmoud’s black SUV parked in front of the bar and captured the driver extending his arm and appearing to fire one shot toward two men standing in the street.

“When the SUV moved, the video captured the victim lying in the roadway in the spot where the driver had fired the shot,” Googins wrote.

South Portland police found Mahmoud’s car parked in a driveway of Wainwright Circle East, where one of his cousins lived. The cousin told investigators that Mahmoud sometimes left his car there when he traveled to Minnesota to visit his son, but she had not talked to him and did not know what time the car had been dropped off.

Within hours, police learned Mahmoud was at 224 Ocean Ave. in Portland.

At 2:47 p.m., Mahmoud called 911 and told dispatchers he was “unarmed” and wanted to “turn himself in.” The dispatcher asked what he wanted to turn himself in for, court records show.

“I fought with someone yesterday … so … can you send an officer … can you send an officer now?” Mahmoud said, according to the affidavit. When the dispatcher again asked for clarification about the crime, Mahmoud said he didn’t want to talk about it and hung up.

Mahmoud was taken into custody a short time later.

GUNS, SPENT CASING FOUND

When investigators obtained a search warrant for Mahmoud’s SUV, they found a 9 mm Glock pistol under the third row of seats. The barrel was empty and there were no magazines or ammunition in the car, according to the affidavit.

Police then searched a second car owned by Mahmoud and found another Glock pistol and 200 rounds of 9 mm ammunition. Inside of a gun case, they also found a single spent 9 mm casing and a black 9 mm magazine, Googins wrote.

Nine days after the shooting, Tshiyuka’s friends and family gathered for a memorial vigil on what would have been his 31st birthday. They described him as the glue that held together his large family and said that he wanted his loved ones to take risks and pursue their dreams. He also was often the person who quelled people’s anxieties.

Raoul Tshiyuka’s mother, Arianne Fazila, left; his younger brother Klein Mulongo, center; and his girlfriend, Winey Ogweta, second from right; listen as Ogweta’s sister, Lilly Angelo, speaks about the prevalence of gun violence during a vigil for Tshiyuka on March 11. Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer

Tshiyuka was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo and lived in Atlanta when his family first came to the United States. They later moved to Maine because his mother wanted to be somewhere more calm, his girlfriend Winey Ogweta told the Press Herald. After his mother and siblings moved to Texas, Tshiyuka stayed behind because he didn’t want to leave his grandmother behind.

Tshiyuka visited his grandmother almost every day, often taking an Uber across town just to bring her flowers or have a cigarette with her, Ogweta said.