Murder Most Mysterious on Mass Ave

Murder is so rare in Portland, Maine, that you can count the incidents on one hand since 2011. But two of them have been associated with separate ends of Massachusetts Avenue in 2014 and 2011.

Here are the statistics for recent years: 2000, No murders; 2001, 1; 2002, 3; 2003, 1; 2004, 2; 2005, 3; 2006; 3; 2007, 1; 2008, 4; 2009, 4; 2010, 6; 2011, 2; 2012, 1. (Source.) There was only one homicide in Portland, Maine, in 2013. (Source.)

Most murders in Portland, Maine, are the result of domestic violence, but less than 10% remain "unsolved."

A new murder in Portland is a surprise. Where it happened is, as well. The Brighton Avenue-Massachusetts Avenue-Congress Street area is a mix of apartment houses at each end, with quiet single-family homes, lined with maple trees and comfortable little front and back yards, in between. This is near the University of Southern Maine, and where students, immigrants, professors, and ex-professors live. The site of these murders is where I live, and a shock for the neighborhood. (It was just a "coincidence" that I wrote about redrum/murder earlier on the same day.)

But are we discovering, at least, for murder mysteries of 2011 and 2014, this one area is a focus?

Here's what we know about the murder last night, Friday, November 21, 2014.

Portland police say a man was shot and killed by another man who fled the scene of the apparent homicide in an apartment on Brighton Avenue on Friday night.
Police found one man dead when they were called to an apartment at 214 Brighton Ave. shortly after 9 p.m. to respond to a report that shots had been fired.
The man believed to have committed the killing fled, but police didn’t know whether he got in a vehicle or ran. They did say that the suspected shooter was no longer thought to be in the area late Friday night, and that no one had been taken into custody.
Police did not release the identity of the victim.
Brighton Avenue was closed between Douglass Street and Massachusetts Avenue while police investigated the killing. They expected the street to remain closed for some time.
The shooting occurred in the Princeton Village Apartments, a large complex next to the train tracks that run through the neighborhood. (Read more.)

The time was also given in another report:

Portland police are investigating a homicide at 214 Brighton Ave. Officers arrived an apartment around 9:05 p.m. Friday and found one man dead. (Read more.)

Saturday evening, the victim was identified as Richard Lobor, 23, of Portland. Source.

Lobor was a guest in an apartment at 214 Brighton Avenue, where the fatal shooting took place. Source.

On Facebook, "Rich Lobor" (pictured) is profiled:

Works at Seeds of Peace

Studied at Southern Maine Community College

Past: Portland High School

Lives in Juba, South Sudan

From Cairo, Egypt

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In 2011, an unsolved murder happened at the opposite end of Massachusetts Avenue.

Portland police investigate a fatal shooting that happened early Monday, August 1, 2011, outside 4-6 Massachusetts Ave. Police were called to the Mobil gas station at 1196 Congress St., in the background, and found a 41-year-old man lying on the sidewalk in front of the station. He was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. John Patriquin/Portland Press Herald photographer

Portland police search an alley outside 4-6 Massachussetts Ave., where a man apparently was shot early Monday. The shooting is the first homicide of this year in Portland. John Patriquin/Portland Press Herald photographer

The victim, identified as Allen MacLean, apparently was shot at 4:30 am behind the three-story apartment building at 4-6 Massachusetts Ave., and collapsed on the sidewalk in front of a Mobil gas station and convenience store at 1196 Congress St.

The case is still listed as unsolved, as the Portland Police department's only "cold case homicide" for 2011. (See here.)

Alien Olympics?

1984 Olympics alien

Have you noticed how the recent McDonald's alien resembles the alien from the 1984 Olympics?

 

2011-2012 McDonald's aliens

1984 Olympics alien

 

But what does the following mean? Are some expecting an alien invasion on August 12, 2012, at the end of the London Olympics?

Top Ten Evil Clowns of 2011

Top Ten Evil Clowns of 2011
by Loren Coleman, Author of The Copycat Effect. (New York: Paraview Pocket-Simon and Schuster, 2004.)

Following in the tradition of my list from 2008, my notes on evil clowns (and Joker clones) that turned up in 2009, and my documenting of real killer clowns in 2010, here is a random "top ten" gathering of "evil clown" stories for 2011.


(1) Clown Caught on Tape Stealing Cash Register


An evil clown stole a cash register on December 8, 2011, from the K-Mart at Mohawk and Huron streets, Corpus Christi, Texas.







(2) Insane Clown Hits Hobo Pantry

According to a Dothan, Alabama police statement, a robbery took place around 12:45 a.m. on Tuesday, April 26, 2011, at the Hobo Pantry store. The police reported a man armed with knife stole some cash and ran from the store toward Westgate Parkway.The robber as a white male, about 6 feet tall, who weighed 175 to 180 pounds, had blue or green eyes, wore desert camouflage pants, a black hooded sweater with red and green animated pictures on it along with the black and white Insane Clown Posse mask over his head.

(3) Kent Clown Caught At Chatham




Mitchell Woods, 17, of Thrasher Close, Haggerston, East London, was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court on Monday, May 9, 2011, after pleading guilty to possessing a prohibited firearm and possessing ammunition without a certificate, to three years in jail. On January 29, 2011, Woods was arrested by a Kent Police Armed Response unit at Higham rail station, after officers were called to the station by a concerned member of the public, who, while waiting for a train at Chatham, overheard Woods talking to some friends about carrying a gun. The Hackney teenager was caught carrying a loaded gun and a clown mask (seen above) on a train in Kent. The gun had been previously used in three gang-related shootings in London, one in which someone had been shot three times with the weapon, according to media accounts.




(4) Clown Uses Car To Hit & Drag Person

On Tuesday, May 10, 2011, Andrew Joseph Davis, 20, was arrested for running down a person with his car and dragging the individual 100 feet.  The Oklahoma incident resulted in the above mug shot of Davis, which was published by Smoking Gun.

Police were called after eyewitnesses saw a driver wearing the distinctive face paint swerve across the road near Bartlesville, Oklahoma, and hit a pedestrian before accelerating. Nearby residents reported that the two men in the black-colored sedan shouted "Woop! Woop!" as they zoomed away from the scene.

(5) Northern Irish Clowns Attack

At about 8 PM local time (2000 GMT) on Tuesday, March 22, 2011, two men with baseball bats called to a flat in Barnagh Grove and assaulted the 42-year-old who lives there. The man's arm was broken and he suffered other injuries. He was taken to a hospital for treatment, according to the BBC.

Police said the attackers were wearing "clown-type masks" and black clothing. This assault by two men wearing clown masks took place in Donaghadee, a small town (population about 6,500) in County Down, Northern Ireland. The town lies about 18 miles (29 km) east of Belfast. Donaghadee is known as a significant site from the Irish Rebellion of 1798. On the morning of Pike Sunday, June 10, 1798, a force of United Irishmen (a guerilla force, not unlike the revolutionaries contemporary in America and France), mainly from Bangor, Donaghadee, Greyabbey and Ballywalter, Ireland, attempted to occupy the town of Newtownards. They met with musket fire from the market house and were defeated.

(6) Clowns Want To Be Plez'ed

Law enforcement officials in Anderson, South Carolina, said a robber wearing a clown mask held up a convenience store at gunpoint on Wednesday night, December 28, 2011. Employees at the Plez U on Concord Road were playing cards when a 5' 7" person with a male voice walked in around 9 p.m. wearing a green and white mask with red hair, a brown hoodie, and gloves.

The person showed a silver revolver and demanded money from the cash register. The person then left after telling everyone inside that they had five seconds to get on the floor.

The robbery is one of three during December 2011, in Anderson County, involving someone wearing a mask and holding up a store at gunpoint. On Old Williamston Road, a High Volume convenience store was robbed Dec. 14 by a man also wearing a clown mask. Investigators say the mask is similar to the one worn by the person at the Plez U. Surveillance video also shows that on Dec. 8, a Stop-A-Minit in Belton was robbed by a man wearing an alien mask and carrying a gun.

(7) Serial Killer Clown's Paintings Go On Sale

In May 2011, it was announced that the paintings of John Wayne Gacy were trying to be sold. Gacy is the Evil Clown come to Earth; he raped and murdered 33 young men and boys in the 1970s. Yes, he also did some art in prison. During 2011, according to the Big Picture, "an art gallery in Las Vergas [sic] is trying to selling [sic] the paintings to raise money for the National Center for Victims of Crime."


The organization, however, petitioned to have its name removed from any connection to this auction, to the Las Vegas gallery, and to the artwork.

(8) Californian Kier Charged With Attempted Montana Murder

Dante Kier called himself "Refry Demon" online.

A California man faces three felony charges, including attempted murder, after police say he stabbed a Kalispell, Montana, homeowner during a December 12, 2011, home invasion because “it felt good.”

Prosecutors with the Flathead County Attorney’s Office have charged Dante Kirpal Kier, 19, of Santa Barbara, Calif., with attempted deliberate homicide, aggravated burglary and assault with a weapon. All three charges are felonies.

Homeowner Brian Bay was fixing the dishwasher in his southeast Kalispell house when he went out to the garage to get a tool. His wife and children were home as well.  When he returned inside, Bay said he saw Kier in the hallway. Bay confronted the intruder, who had a weapon in his hand. During the confrontation, Kier allegedly stabbed Bay in the upper arm and inside his mouth. Kier then tried to stab Bay in the ribs numerous times with what turned out to be a wood-handled steak knife. Investigators said the blade was “bent severely” after the stabbing. Bay wrestled Kier to the ground and held him while his wife called the police at about 9:35 p.m. Officers arrived and arrested Kier. Police say Bay’s wife and children were unharmed during the incident.

When police officers canvassed the neighborhood, several of the Bays’ neighbors said they found notes on their windows that said, “Your house is being watched tonight by … the creeps.”

Kier also allegedly told police that he is a member of the Insane Clown Posse gang, and referred to himself as a Juggalo. (There's a long documented history and debate about ICP-inspired crime, see here and here, but this specific list is about the clown aspect, please note.)

(9) Clown Arrested On Rape Charges


A cold case of a clown raping a young girl was solved in Fullerton, California, in October 2011. 


See the video report here.




(10) Killer Santa Strikes Again





My 2008 list ended with the ultimate evil twisted clown-like finale to the year of 2008, when a costumed man, Bruce Jeffrey Pardo, 45, plotting revenge against his ex-wife, dressed up in a Santa Claus suit, went to his former in-laws' Christmas Eve party and slaughtered nine people. He then burned their house down before killing himself hours later. The Killer Santa killings took place on East Knollcrest Drive, Covina, California.

It happened again, in 2011.

Grapevine, a Dallas suburb, is dubbed the "Christmas Capital of Texas." It was there where a Christmas Day rampage occurred. A gunman who killed six people and himself at a family Christmas celebration was dressed in a Santa Claus suit when he opened fire, local police said. The dead were four women and three men, ages 15 to 59. The victims appeared to have just opened Christmas presents when the shooting started in the Lincoln Vineyards, a middle-income complex near Colleyville Heritage High School, one of the area's most highly regarded schools.

Authorities later identified the shooter as a 56-year-old Persian man, Aziz Yazdanpanah, who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. His wife, with whom he was having marital and financial problems, like Aziz, was born in Iran; their children were American-born.

(+ 2012) Santa Again

The Daily Star is reporting that on Christmas Eve, Friday, January 6, 2012, (the Greek Patriarchate of Jerusalem is one of the Orthodox churches that celebrate Christmas on January 7th, following the Julian calendar), there has been another Santa suit murder.

Six Israeli Arabs have been arrested on suspicion of involvement in the Christmas Eve killing of a prominent Christian leader in Jaffa by a man reportedly wearing a Santa suit, police say. Lawyer and accountant Gabriel Cadis was stabbed fatally on Friday after a parade in the historic Mediterranean port district marking the day before Christmas, according to the calendar followed by the Greek Orthodox Church in the Holy Land.

Israeli police spokeswoman Luba Samri noted, "The killer could have been disguised as Father Christmas but we're not sure."



"Initial inquiries suggest that there was not a nationalist motive to the murder, that is to say that it was not connected to the Arab-Jewish conflict. We are following all leads, including rumours of a dispute within the Greek Orthodox community in Jaffa over the victim's recent re-election as leader of the Jaffa Orthodox Church Association," she said.

Top Ten Evil Clown Stories of 2011

© Loren Coleman, 2012

.

Hobo Pantry & Evil Clowns

On Tuesday, May 10, 2011, Andrew Joseph Davis, 20, was arrested for running down a person with his car and dragging the individual 100 feet.  The Oklahoma incident resulted in the above mug shot of Davis, which was published by Smoking Gun.

Police were called after eyewitnesses saw a driver wearing the distinctive face paint swerve across the road near Bartlesville, Oklahoma, and hit a pedestrian before accelerating. Nearby residents reported that the two men in the black-colored sedan shouted "Woop! Woop!" as they zoomed away from the scene.

 

It was unclear why he was wearing the face paint, although it could be because he is a "fan of Insane Clown Posse, whose 'Juggalo' followers are partial to similar facial adornment," Smoking Gun said.

Perhaps Andrew Davis was merely attempting to get on the Top Ten Evil Clown List for 2011?  Not much has floated to the top since the clown reports that made the list from 2008, but this year is starting off rather strangely.

For example, Mitchell Woods, 17, of Thrasher Close, Haggerston, East London, was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court on Monday, May 9, 2011, after pleading guilty to possessing a prohibited firearm and possessing ammunition without a certificate, to three years in jail. On January 29, 2011, Woods was arrested by a Kent Police Armed Response unit at Higham rail station, after officers were called to the station by a concerned member of the public, who, while waiting for a train at Chatham, overheard Woods talking to some friends about carrying a gun.  The Hackney teenager was caught carrying a loaded gun and a clown mask (seen below) on a train in Kent.  The gun had been previously used in three gang-related shootings in London, one in which someone had been shot three times with the weapon, according to media accounts.

Then there's such things as the robbery in Alabama in April. According to a Dothan, Alabama police statement, a robbery took place around 12:45 a.m. on Tuesday, April 26, 2011, at the Hobo Pantry store. The police reported a man armed with knife stole some cash and ran from the store toward Westgate Parkway.The robber as a white male, about 6 feet tall, who weighed 175 to 180 pounds, had blue or green eyes, wore desert camouflage pants, a black hooded sweater with red and green animated pictures on it along with the black and white Insane Clown Posse mask over his head.

Of course, evil clowns (and Joker clones) turned up in 2009, as well as real killer clowns in 2010.  But while 2011 seemed to start off rather slowly, with a clown attack on March 22nd, these new events, noted above, may be a clue of things to come.


Trying to find the "Top Ten Evil Clowns of 2011"? See here.