Maine Mall Shooting Suspect Ahmed Basheer Awad, 20, Still at Large: South Portland Police

Police have identified but are still attempting to locate the individual suspected of shooting another person inside the Maine Mall Wednesday afternoon.

In a Thursday morning press release, police identified 20-year-old Ahmed Basheer Awad of Westbrook as the suspected shooter.

Police say they have obtained a warrant for Awad’s arrest for elevated aggravated assault, a Class A felony.

More charges are expected as their investigation continues, police said.

South Portland Police announced shortly after 4 p.m. on Wednesday that the Maine Mall was closed due to an “active situation,” which the department later confirmed to be a shooting.

In an update posted nearly two hours later, police said they were searching for the suspected shooter inside of the Maine Mall.

Police said their initial investigation suggested that the shooting was an isolated incident between two individuals and that the public is not at risk, but asked the public to continue avoiding the mall area while they continued their search.

South Portland Police released the following three photos of the suspected shooter:

Later Wednesday evening, South Portland Police Chief Dan Ahern shared that after a “methodical search” of the mall, police were unable to locate the suspect.

“All units cleared the mall after safely evacuating all tenants, staff, and visitors,” Ahern said.

Ahern said on Wednesday night that police were “actively following leads as to the identification and whereabouts of the shooter.”

The victim of the shooting is expected to survive following surgery, Ahern said.

The South Portland Police Chief thanked the numerous agencies that responded to the Maine Mall, including from the neighboring police department of Portland, Scarborough, Cape Elizabeth, Yarmouth, Gorham, Westbrook, the Maine State Police, Cumberland County Sheriff’s, the ATF and the FBI.

“I would like to thank those officers for their response to what they only knew to be an active shooter at the largest mall in Maine,” Ahern stated. “It was not until first units arrived that we determine this to be an isolated incident between two individuals and that the shooter may have already exited the mall.”

At a Thursday morning press conference, South Portland Police Chief Dan Ahern said that police received several 911 calls at about 3:40 p.m. on Wednesday reporting shooting in the Maine Mall food court.

Ahern said that mall security provided immediate treatment to the victim, who had suffered a gunshot wound to his right leg.

The victim was transported to Maine Medical Center and is “doing well,” after surgery, Ahern said.

The suspect shooter, Ahmed Basheer Awad, is believed to be from Westbrook, and was recently encountered in South Portland living out of his vehicle, Ahern said. A potential suspect vehicle was described as a silver four-door sedan.

“We are actively seeking the shooter,” Ahern said. “We have identified him, we know who he is, we are still trying to locate him and bring him into custody.”

“We’re not sure that he’s even in the State of Maine,” he said. “We’re still conducting a thorough search and using our forensic tools to find out where he is and locate him.”

Ahern reaffirmed that he believes public is safe, though Awad is to be considered armed and dangerous if encountered. He said police hope to reach a resolution and take Awad into custody by the end of the day.

“We don’t think anyone should be worried that he’s roaming around here in the City of South Portland,” the police chief said.

Ahern commended the numerous law enforcement agencies and mall staff for their response to the incident, that was initially treated as an active shooter mass casualty event, though it was later determined to be an isolated incident.