Gang Deng Majok pleaded guilty Friday to shooting a man in the back outside the now-closed Sangillo’s Tavern on Hampshire Street in Portland in January 2014, his third guilty plea in a week on serious felony charges.
As part of an agreement with the Cumberland County District Attorney’s Office, Majok, 32, who was sentenced to 30 years in prison March 3 for the 2015 murder of Treyjon Arsenault in an Old Port recording studio, pleaded guilty to elevated aggravated assault and was sentenced to 20 years behind bars.
The 20-year sentence will run concurrently with the murder sentence and with a 15-year sentence he received Wednesday in York County Superior Court in Alfred for aggravated drug trafficking.
Until this week, Majok had not been named as a suspect in the Sangillo’s shooting, although he was arrested that night on minor charges.
The victim, Nasir Hirad, then 25, was hit once behind his armpit by a .45-caliber bullet, according to authorities. The wound paralyzed the man, and he is now suing Majok and the bar’s owners, alleging that they failed to intervene in the confrontation that led up to the shooting. That lawsuit is pending in Cumberland County Superior Court.
During the brief sentencing hearing Friday in Cumberland County Unified Criminal Court, Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Ackerman laid out the case against Majok, who entered the bar that night after meeting an acquaintance on the street and asking for him to have a drink with him.
Once inside the bar, Majok was among two groups of men who were arguing, Ackerman said.
When they left and walked into the parking lot, someone fired three shots, striking Hirad once.
Majok and another man fled, but were chased by police who were on patrol nearby, heard the shots and pursued.
Police arrested Majok and found the .45-caliber semi-automatic handgun under a dumpster nearby.
Majok denied being at Sangillo’s that night, Ackerman said. Forensics examiners found gunshot residue on Majok and on the other man who fled, Ackerman said.
DNA testing from the gun was inconclusive, Ackerman said.
Immediately after the shooting, Hirad said he did not know who had shot him. But he later identified Majok as his assailant in an interview with a private investigator hired in connection with the ongoing lawsuit.
Ackerman said Hirad had told other people that Majok shot him, but did not say so to police because he was afraid of Majok, who was not arrested until July 2015.
Neither Hirad nor anyone from his family was at Friday’s hearing, but Ackerman said Hirad’s father approved of the plea agreement and asked Ackerman to pursue it.
Matt Byrne can be contacted at 791-6303 or at:
mbyrne@pressherald.com
Twitter: MattByrnePPH
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