Portland police are looking for eight teenagers and young men who early Saturday beat a 37-year-old man, who died a short time later at Maine Medical Center.
Interim Police Chief Joseph Loughlin described the assailants as a “pack” of boys and young men, ranging in age from under 16 to about 25. Police are not yet identifying the victim.
The victim, Loughlin said, was a transient who, at about 2 a.m., was chased across a soccer field adjacent to the Kennedy Park housing development near the city’s Bayside neighborhood. The man was beaten in the southwest corner of the field, Loughlin said, until he was able to crawl under a fence and reach a sidewalk on Fox Street.
A weapon was involved, but Loughlin declined to identify what type of weapon was used.
Police were able to talk to the man before he was taken to the hospital, Loughlin said. He would not say what the man said, but noted that the victim provided “useful information” to the eight detectives who are working on the case.
“It’s very serious and we’re concerned,” he said.
The early-morning crime left many in the neighborhood restless, having dealt with a number of violent incidents in the past.
In October of 2007, a man living on Anderson Street was charged with killing his girlfriend in their apartment.
On July 4, 2006, a man killed himself after shooting his wife outside an apartment building at 31 Oxford St. In December 2004, a drive-by shooting occurred in a parking lot in Kennedy Park. No one was injured.
Earlier this year, the East Bayside Neighborhood Association announced plans to create a neighborhood crime watch program.
Catherine Vance, who has lived in the Kennedy Park neighborhood for more than 20 years, said she was awakened by all the police activity at the crime scene.“I was up all night wondering what happened,” she said
Vance was among several neighbors who said it’s hard to feel safe in a neighborhood where fights, shootings and other violence seems so common.
“Ask any person who lives in this neighborhood if they feel safe when they go to bed and they’ll say no,” she said.
Bona Nyapir said residents are anxious to address the violence, but at times it feels like they get little help from police or the city.
Nyapir said police patrols do come through Kennedy Park often, but once the cruisers leave, the problems quickly come back.
Nyapir said it feels like they receive lip service when they bring up the issue with the police and the Portland Housing Authority.
“I have a small kid. I don’t want them to be here how it is,” Nyapir said. “This is a real problem.”
Justin Wakati said cars are vandalized, people are killed and nothing seems to change. “What can I do? I have no authority,” Wakati said.
According to Loughlin, witnesses saw the man being chased across the field. Those who beat him, witnesses said, were wearing long white T-shirts and baggy shorts or sweat pants and were Asian, black and white, Loughlin said.
Police don’t know the motive for the attack, he said, but it could have involved drugs.
The soccer field is widely used by people in the neighborhood, as well as by the city for events such as the Latino Soccer Tournament.
The area around the field is not known as a particularly troublesome spot, Loughlin said.
“We’re called to that area frequently for fights and disturbances, but from the perspective of officers, it’s routine,” he said.
On Saturday night, police patrols could be seen around the area. Shortly after 8 p.m., at least five squad cars pulled into the end of Mayo Street and ticketed a group of young men for loitering.
Sgt. Scott Mattox said the police presence was...
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