An 18-year-old Portland man was charged with reckless conduct with a firearm Friday after he allegedly fired several shots outside his house, at least one of which hit a 20-year-old Standish man.
The incident took place Friday afternoon during a confrontation in front of Christopher McMann’s house at 111 Elizabeth Road, according to police. They said McMann “fired multiple gunshots” outside the house and hit Daniel Trimble-Smith, who was listed in satisfactory condition Friday night at Maine Medical Center and is expected to make a full recovery.
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Police did not say what caused the confrontation.
No one else was hurt, according to police, although one shot went into an occupied home nearby. The occupants were in another part of the house, police said, and the bullet penetrated an exterior wall and damaged furniture and other belongings.
Police said Friday night that their investigation of the shooting is continuing and Trimble-Smith’s car has been impounded as part of the investigation.
Reckless conduct with a firearm is a crime punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000. Police said additional charges are possible.
The shooting occurred around 3:30 p.m in a neighborhood between Brighton Avenue and outer Congress Street that consists mostly of single-family, owner-occupied homes on small lots.
Crystal Rollins, who lives about three blocks from the scene of the shooting, said she heard three loud pops.
“I just grabbed my daughter and got her away from the windows and then I called 911,” Rollins said.
Police surrounded the house for about an hour after they had already announced that one man had been shot and another was in custody.
Residents gathered to watch from a block away as an officer with a rifle was positioned behind a police sport utility vehicle, aiming at the house where the shooting had occurred. Someone on a bullhorn could be heard, although it wasn’t clear what was being said. A resident of the neighborhood said police were asking anyone in the house to come out.
Portland police Lt. James Sweatt said they weren’t sure if anyone was in the house and they were standing by “out of an abundance of caution.” He said police didn’t consider the situation a standoff and he instead called it an “active scene.”
A police armored van drove into the driveway of 111 Elizabeth Road around 5 p.m. and officers brought out a person who appeared to be an older girl or young woman. She was put in the back of the van, which then backed up about 100 feet to a waiting cruiser. The female, who was not handcuffed, was taken out of the van and put into the cruiser, which then drove off.
Police pulled the armored van back to the house and about five officers got out and went inside. A short while later, a police crime scene van went to the house and the armored van and most of the other police vehicles left.
Police said they planned to keep the street blocked off overnight, although residents would be allowed back into their homes.
Colin Baier, who lives next to 111 Elizabeth Road, said he saw only one of his next-door neighbors regularly, a man in his mid-50s who often walked his dog in the neighborhood. He said the man seemed pleasant and was nice to Baier’s children, although he largely kept to himself.
“This is a tightly knit neighborhood,” Baier said. “They didn’t participate in that.”
Baier said he didn’t know if anyone else was living in the house.
Baier said he has lived on the street for about eight years, and the house next to his was empty when he and his family moved in. He believes the residents next door previously had been an elderly couple who passed away. He thinks the man who lives there now is related to the couple, but he wasn’t sure about the exact relationship.
The scene is about five blocks from the city’s last homicide, which occurred in an apartment complex at 214 Brighton Ave. in November. A suspect in that killing was arrested in December in Minneapolis.
Rollins said there have been a few crime waves in the neighborhood, including house break-ins and thefts from cars.
“We live in a safe city, but every few years I think, ‘What the heck?’ ” she said.
Staff writer Dave Hench contributed to this report.
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