Anger, mistrust among Sudanese community after deadly shooting

A shrine was created in memory of David Okot, the man shot and killed by police Saturday night at Weymouth Street. (DAVID CARKHUFF PHOTO)

The city's Sudanese community is demanding answers in the days after police shot dead 26-year-old David Okot on Weymouth Street Saturday night.

Leaders of the community are encouraging Sudanese residents to keep Okot and his family in their prayers and to remain calm while the official investigation unfolds. Meanwhile, the Sudanese elders are acknowledging intense hostility among many residents after what they see as a pattern of mistreatment by police that includes racial profiling, harassment and police failure to solve violent crimes against Sudanese men.

"The anger is there; everyone is mad, including myself, about how it happened," said Emmanuel Omal, president of Sudanese Youth for Change, in a Monday telephone interview. "We feel like we really don't know the truth."

Police were called to 11 Weymouth Street at about 7:35 p.m. Saturday on reports that a man was brandishing a gun. When officers arrived, a man later identified as Okot reportedly fled to an elevated front porch, pulled a gun out of his waistband, and was shot by the two officers, interim police chief Joseph Loughlin said Monday.

Okot's bleeding body was moved off the porch to the sidewalk as officers looked for two other men, one of whom hasn't yet been found while another is cooperating. Loughlin told reporters Okot's body was moved to allow officers to conduct a sweep through the house in search of the other two men. Paramedics declared Okot dead at the scene.

"Our appeal is that everyone remains calm and lets the investigations proceed forward until we get all facts and circumstances related to this case," Loughlin said.

But many Sudanese residents, long distrustful of police, have dismissed the official story. Rumors that officers planted the gun on Okot after he was shot have run rampant throughout the neighborhood and many young Sudanese remained angry Monday morning, making it clear they blame the police for Okot's death.

"There was no gun, they tossed the gun after they shot him," said one man, who like seven other Sudanese youths standing near La Bodega Latina, a grocery store near the shooting scene, vigorously declined to give a first or last name.

"They dragged his dead body like a piece of [expletive]," said another. "They let him die on the street."

Another man questioned why officers repeatedly shot Okot in the chest rather than shooting him in the legs to disable him. "That's what they are trained to do, not to kill someone," the man said. "Instead they shot him twice right here [pointing to an area near his heart)."

Five of the eight of the Sudanese men were drinking from a 12-pack of Natural Ice beer; a few were pouring the beverage out in homage to Okot, both on the front porch of the house where the shooting took place and on the sidewalk, where a makeshift shrine with candles and photos was set up.

One of the men threatened retribution against police. "They got one of us, now we are going to get one of them," he said. Moments later, several of his friends asked him to calm down.

Another man, who said he lived above La Bodega Latina and witnessed the incident, also insisted that Okot was not carrying a gun. "He never tried to fight anyone, he was always the one who always tried to break things up," the man said.

Meanwhile, across town, members of Okot's family held vigil in an apartment near Washington Avenue. Thirteen people, including four small children and many aunts and cousins and siblings crowded into the living room of the apartment. They allowed a reporter to grieve with them but not ask questions or take notes.

Alternating between English and a tribal dialect, they described Okot as a complex man who struggled with alcoholism but felt like he was singled out by police. They said he was beaten about six years ago during an arrest and said he was also beaten in jail. They said Sudanese and other African immigrants receive unfair treatment by police.

Several of Okot's family sipped soft drinks while the younger children ate candy. They chatted some, but generally grieved in silence.

Wells Staley-Mays, an activist with Peace Action Maine, has spent years working with Sudanese refugees in Portland. He said Okot battled mental illness and that his family has suffered its fair share of tragedy in recent years. Staley-Mays said James Angelo, a Mercy Hospital security guard shot to death in an unsolved crime last fall, was Okot's cousin and that Okot's mother died in a car accident a few years ago.

Staley-Mays said there is a lot of mistrust of police among the Sudanese community. He cited the department's inability to solve high-profile crimes like the Angelo shooting and an incident several years ago where Dennis Okeny died several weeks after he was struck in the head as a leading cause.

"Just look at it from their perspective," Staley-Mays said Monday, adding that racial profiling and police harassment were rampant.

In a press conference Monday at Portland Police Headquarters, Loughlin said Okot had many run-ins with police. He said Okot has been convicted of eight crimes including theft, criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon and multiple bail violations. Officers have made more than 50 contacts with him over the years, several leading to arrests.

The chief said the shooting was justified and that officers responded accordingly. The officers involved, Benjamin Roper and Joshua Wiseman, have been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation by the state attorney general's office and the department's internal affairs unit. Those are standard steps in officer-involved shootings.

"The officers were placed in a situation where they were forced to take action, where they forced to engage this individual, and again, it's a tragedy for everyone involved," the chief said.

He defended the officers' decision to move Okot's body from the porch onto the sidewalk, saying their first concern was searching for two other men who fled when police arrived, and who officers presumed were armed and dangerous.

"Obviously, when police arrive at these scenes, a lot is going on, it's very confusing, and it happens very, very fast. These are rapidly evolving situations that we have to attend to quickly to ensure the public's safety as well as the officers," Loughlin said.

Loughlin said at least one of the officers claimed he was shot at during the incident but wouldn't elaborate. Loughlin wouldn't say how many shots were fired by the officers, although witnesses reported hearing six shots. He did say a semi-automatic handgun was recovered at the scene and was undergoing testing.

Reports that Okot was intoxicated at the time of the incident won't be verified until a toxicology screen comes back, he said.

Police and city officials plan to meet with members of the Sudanese community in the coming days to discuss the incident.

Emmanuel Omal, the Sudanese community leader, said in a statement that anger was a normal reaction to the incident. Still, he encouraged Sudanese residents to reflect on the incident and strive toward eliminating violence in the city.

Saturday's officer-involved shooting was the first for Portland Police since last May, when two officers shot and killed a 48-year-old Portland man who apparently tried to drive off while an officer was hanging from the vehicle.