July 11--PORTLAND -- The man killed in an early morning shooting was the driver in a fatal crash in Falmouth June 22.
Matthew Blanchard, 24, of South Portland was with a group of friends at about 1 a.m. this morning when he was shot by a suspect who remains at large, police said.
Two of the men with Blanchard were injured and taken to Maine Medical Center. A fourth man in their group was not injured.
Police are seeking suspects in the city's first homicide of the year, an early morning shooting near the corner of India and Congress streets.
The victims, who ranged in age from their late teens to mid-20s, said they did not know the people who attacked them as they were making their way from one part of town to another, said Police Chief Michael Sauschuck.
"They're cooperating," he said of the shooting victims, "and we have limited suspect information at this point."
Witnesses said they saw two black men running west down Congress Street immediately after the shooting. Police believe one of the two was the gunman and used a handgun.
Police continue to canvass the area at the base of Munjoy Hill and are contacting area businesses looking for security video that may have recorded the suspects fleeing.
There was a loud argument just before the shots were fired but police do not know what started the altercation.
On June 22, Blanchard was at the wheel of a 2008 Chevrolet Cobalt when it crashed, killing its owner, Casey Green, 22, of Falmouth. The car left the northbound lane of Gray Road and hit a tree. Blanchard apparently fell asleep, police said.
Police say there were no skid marks before the car left the road. There were no signs of drinking or excessive speed in the 50-mph zone, though police planned to do blood tests and reconstruct the crash.
Blanchard at first told police he was not driving, but later met with investigators and admitted being behind the wheel, Falmouth police said.
Police charged Blanchard with causing an accident that led to the death of someone while driving with a suspended license, a felony, police said.
Officers were in the area and responded almost immediately after police began receiving reports at 1 a.m. that gunshots had just been fired in the area, Sauschuck said.
Four men, all white, were at the scene, and three of them suffered gunshot wounds, Sauschuck said.
One later died from those injuries at Maine Medical Center, where the state medical examiner was scheduled to perform an autopsy this morning, he said. The two others are being treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
Those who were shot are in their early to mid 20s and the man who was not shot is 19, Sauschuck said. Police have had some interactions with members of that group but none have an extensive or serious criminal history, he said.
Police have not disclosed the names of the victims.
The group had been walking from Deering and it appears the encounter between the two groups was random.
"We don't believe any business or liquor establishment were involved in this in any way," Sauschuck said.
Although there are homes along India Street, much of it consists of businesses, including food establishments and medical offices. The Milestone Shelter, a shelter for people who have substance abuse problems, is located at 65 India St. Sauschuck said there appears to be no connection to the shelter.
The shooting is the first homicide of the year. There were two homicides last year, one of which, at the corner of Outer Congress Street and Massachusetts Street, remains unsolved.
This morning, splatters of blood could be seen on the sidewalk outside an apartment building at 105-107 India St.
Angelina Badalucco, who lives on the second floor, said she woke up to what sounded like firecrackers and gun shots.
She walked out the front of the building and saw a young man, with a bicycle and a backpack next to him and blood on his arm, saying his friend was shot. Another man was lying in a grassy patch next to the building and looked badly injured, she said.
Badalucco, who has lived in the building for three months, said she had never seen the men before. She said a lot of people hang around the building late at night. Teenagers are often passing by and homeless people sit on the stairs under an awning in the front.
She said people often hang out in a cement area in the back of the building drinking and smoking.
"I'm not surprised there was a confrontation and someone happened to have a weapon," she said.
Jim Ward, who lives nearby on Hampshire Street, said he was up watching television when he heard what he thought were fireworks going off. Ward, a deejay at WMPG, didn't think much of it until he left for work a couple of hours later around 3 a.m. and saw police cruisers and roads blocked.
He said he's lived in the neighborhood for more than a decade and hasn't seen any violent crime before.
"I feel very safe," he said.
Police reopened a section of Congress and India streets that were closed to traffic this morning while police investigated the scene, gathered evidence and collected data for a computer-generated map of the crime scene.
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