A Portland man with a lengthy record of arrests and violent encounters with police has been sentenced in federal court after years of run-ins with law enforcement, including shootings, high-speed chases, and a home invasion carried out while he was free on bail.
U.S. District Judge Nancy Torresen sentenced Mohamud Abdullahi, 32, to more than six years in prison this week for being a felon in possession of a firearm. The conviction stems from a November 2023 incident when Abdullahi pulled a gun from his waistband and fired two shots into the air near Commercial Street in Portland. Officers later recovered two 9mm shell casings, and South Portland police stopped his vehicle after a chase across the Casco Bay Bridge.
Authorities said Abdullahi, who has prior felony convictions for assault, aggravated criminal trespass, and drug trafficking, was legally barred from possessing firearms.
But the Commercial Street shooting was only one chapter in Abdullahi’s string of criminal cases. Just weeks later, while out on $10,000 bail, Abdullahi was arrested again — this time for allegedly forcing his way into a South Portland home, threatening occupants with a gun, and demanding money. Police said he fled in a vehicle before abandoning it in Portland’s Munjoy Hill neighborhood, where he was later taken into custody.
Abdullahi’s case is yet another example of Maine’s soft on crime approach, as exemplified under Cumberland County District Attorney Jackie Sartoris (D), and the state’s inability to keep high-risk recidivist offenders of the streets.
Abdullahi’s case involved multiple police pursuits in late 2023. He led Portland and South Portland officers on several foot and vehicle chases, at one point running through a wooden fence while fleeing. During one confrontation, South Portland police reported that Abdullahi spit in the face of an officer.
The firearm used in the November 2023 shooting was later recovered from the lawn of a home near where Abdullahi had been stopped.
Abdullahi’s 75-month sentence will be followed by three years of supervised release.
