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Doug Jones/Staff PhotographerMercy Hospital is offering a $20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the individuals who shot and killed a hospital security guard Sunday. The reward is the largest offer ever made to assist a Portland police investigation.
"As a matter of justice, it's very important for us to help the Police Department find the individuals that did this," said hospital President Eileen Skinner at a press conference at police headquarters Thursday.
James Angelo, 27, who worked at night as an unarmed security guard, was shot in the back of the neck early Sunday morning in a hospital parking lot along Winter Street while beginning an outside patrol.
Acting Police Chief Joseph Loughlin said Thursday that detectives have developed some good leads and that the reward will be a big help.
"We do believe persons have significant information, and we are asking them to come forward," he said.
He said two people were seen fleeing the scene after the shooting, which occurred at 4 a.m. He said they were seen by witnesses and also on a security videotape.
One was described as a short black man in his early 20s with a slight build and short hair. The man appeared to be clean-shaven and was wearing black pants and a white hooded sweatshirt with a design or print.
The other person was described only as wearing a light- colored shirt or jacket.
People with information are asked to call police at 874-8524.
Angelo's father, Angelo Okot, said he is encouraged that Mercy has offered the reward and that police are making some progress.
"If we have some leads, with some (reward) money, we have a lot," he said. "Of course, they are not going to bring my son back, but I would like that person to serve time for what he has done to us and for spilling my son's blood."
Angelo immigrated to Portland in 1995 with his parents, two brothers and four sisters. The family had lived in Egypt for three years after fleeing the civil war in Sudan.
Okot, who is president of the Sudanese Community Association of Maine, has been critical of police, saying they have not done enough to solve crimes in which Sudanese people were victims.
Loughlin said police are determined to find Angelo's killers.
"Everyone needs to remain calm and not cast aspersion on any group of individuals, particularly the police department," he said.
On Monday, the association delivered a letter to Mayor Ed Suslovic, listing several incidents since 2000 in which it said there have been no arrests.
Police officials, however, say there was an arrest in one case, and police have a warrant for an arrest in another.
Capt. Vern Malloch, who oversees the work of the police department's detectives and crime lab, said the letter indicates to him that the police need to do a better job communicating with members of the Sudanese community.
"I don't take it that they are blaming the police for this," he said. "From a police department standpoint, we want them to know how hard we are working on these. We feel we are doing the best to solve these, and we have in many instances."
Edward Laboke, a spokesman for the Sudanese Community Association, said the answers that police have given so far are "not satisfactory."
"They look very weak," he said of the explanations. "They don't suggest some kind of proper investigation or action."
Other than the Angelo case, the incidents include these:
• March 12, 2008: Gunshots were fired into a first-floor apartment at 43 Hammond St., nearly striking Helen Sonki in the head. After the incident, Sonki and her husband, Martin Sonki, decided to move out of the city with their three daughters.
The case is unsolved, but police said the shooters were aiming at an apartment on the second floor, which was vacant but had been under surveillance by police.
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