A former South Portland resident accused of shooting two men and killing one of them in Portland nearly five years ago pleaded not guilty to murder and aggravated assault on Friday.
Aristotle Stilley Portland Police department
Aristotle Stilley, 24, was indicted in Maine last August and arrested in Sacramento, California, after a routine traffic stop in October. California officials insisted that he serve a sentence for misdemeanor methamphetamine possession in that state before allowing him to be sent to Maine to face the charges stemming from the shootings in Portland.
Stilley was brought to Maine this week and arraigned during a video appearance in Cumberland County Superior Court in Portland on Friday afternoon. He pleaded not guilty and the court appointed a lawyer for him. He is accused of killing David Anderson, 36, and assaulting Abdirahman Abdullahi by firing a gun through the door of a Portland apartment on March 15, 2016.
While previous court filings had described Anderson’s killing, information about Abdullahi’s shooting was not disclosed before Friday’s court appearance. The newly revealed assault charge said only that Abdullahi was shot in Cumberland County with a .40-caliber Hi Point pistol on the same day that Anderson was shot and killed.
Leanne Robbin, an assistant attorney general, said Abdullahi was hit with a bullet at the same time that Anderson was shot through the door and killed. She declined to say what might have been the motive or whether Stilley, Anderson and Abdullahi knew each other.
Portland police officials have disclosed little about Anderson’s killing and on Friday said that they had no more information on Abdullahi’s shooting.
State officials at Friday’s arraignment indicated they will probably seek a hearing that would allow them to continue to hold Stilley without bail, but a date for that hearing wasn’t set Friday.
Anderson was shot after someone knocked on the door of an apartment at 88 Gilman St. shortly after 11 p.m. Several shots were fired through the closed door, killing Anderson, who was a guest at the apartment, and hitting Abdullahi. Two other guests and the resident of the apartment were unharmed, Robbin said.
David Anderson
It’s not clear why it took four years to identify Stilley as a suspect, or what evidence led to the charges.
Police said the apartment complex had video cameras, but the gunman covered his face with a mask and a hood. The gunman also picked up the brass shell casings ejected from the semi-automatic handgun used in the shooting, leaving little evidence at the scene for police.
Stilley was indicted by a Cumberland County Grand Jury last August and a warrant was issued for his arrest. After he was stopped by police in California early last fall and served time there, Portland police went to California this week to bring him back to Maine.
The indictment was sealed and police have not said what led them to suspect Stilley in the shooting or what the motive might have been. No further details on the shooting were released in court Friday.
Until recently, Anderson’s killing had been listed among more than a dozen unsolved homicides in the city. There are now 14 cases with brief descriptions on a website that police maintain. They ask anyone who might have information on the cases to call 207-874-8575 or leave an anonymous tip at 207-874-8584.
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