Posted on 10/02/2005 2:17:04 PM PDT by ex-Texan
Akim Jabbie still seems shaken when he talks about the phone call he received a few days after his 33-year-old son, Mohamed Jabbie, was shot to death at his Clackamas County apartment on Sept. 24, 2004.
According to Akim Jabbie, a friend in Portland's black community called to say that everyone knew who killed his son.
"He said it was Michael Washington," Jabbie said. Jabbie was not surprised to hear the name. His son had been assaulted by Washington on July 4, 2004. The day before Mohamed Jabbie was killed, he had testified against Washington before a Multnomah County grand jury. When police told Akim Jabbie about the shooting, he instantly assumed his son was killed in retaliation.
But Jabbie was shocked to hear that many people believed Washington was responsible and had not gone to the police. Although Washington subsequently was convicted of the assault and sentenced to two years in jail, the killing is still unsolved. Akim is afraid Washington — a Portland Crips gang affiliate — will kill again after he is released.
"A group of people knows what happened, but they won't come forward. More murders could happen because of this," Akim said.
Clackamas County sheriff's Deputy Dan Kraus agrees. He also suspects — but cannot yet prove — that Washington killed Mohamed Jabbie. And, like Akim Jabbie, Kraus believes that some members of Portland's black community are withholding the information he needs to charge Washington with the crime.
"I understand that people can feel intimidated — someone has been killed, which is about the worst thing that can happen. But if you know what happened and you don't step up, you're letting a killer remain at large in your community," Kraus said.
Scott Raivio, the Portland lawyer who represented Washington in the assault case, said he could not comment on any conversations he had with Washington about the murder allegations.
The wall of silence confronting Kraus is similar to the one that Portland police encounter all too often when investigating suspected gang-related crime. When drive-by shootings happen in North, Northeast or downtown Portland, witnesses often run away or clam up when questioned by the police.
"It's very frustrating," said Portland police detective Pete Simpson, a member of the Gang Enforcement Team. "There's a lot of community pressure to solve these crimes, but people won't go on the record with what they know."
According to Simpson, some witnesses choose to live by the "convict code" that prohibits talking to the police about anything. Other witnesses are afraid to step forward, he said.
"Sometimes they get threatening phone calls or visits to their homes. They have to live in these neighborhoods," Simpson said.
Jabbie also is frustrated.
"I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy what I've been through. I'm begging the people who know what happened to come forward," he said.
Son follows father's path
Akim and Mohamed Jabbie are both immigrants from Sierra Leone who left Africa to pursue the greater opportunities offered in the United States.
Akim Jabbie left home in 1972 to enroll at Southern Oregon College — now Southern Oregon University — in Ashland. Although initially the change was disorienting, Jabbie says fellow students, professors and Ashland residents all made him feel welcome.
"I fell in love with Oregon," he said.
Jabbie moved to Portland in 1977, living in various houses in North and Northeast Portland before settling into a small brick home not far from the New Columbia housing development more than 10 years ago. Although the home blends into the modest but stable neighborhood on the outside, the inside is alive with African paintings and carvings, and pictures of Jabbie's family.
According to Jabbie, his son left Sierra Leone and moved in with him 11 years ago. Mohamed Jabbie quickly found work and made friends in the community.
He remained employed and was working as a medical transport assistant for Kaiser Permanente and Legacy Emanuel Hospital at the time of his death, Akim Jabbie said.
"He had a balance in his life. Yes, he was fun and liked fun, but he was responsible, too," Jabbie said.
Soured romance sets stage
Some time before his death, Mohamed Jabbie met a single mother named Shirleen Stafford. According to a July 4, 2004, sheriff's report, her last boyfriend was Washington. They had broken up in early 2004, the report says. Washington has previous robbery and drug convictions.
According to the report, Jabbie was visiting Stafford at her Gresham house the evening of July 4, 2004, when Washington showed up. The report says the 6-foot, 230-pound Washington crashed through the back door, tearing it off its hinges. He assaulted Jabbie in a hallway, beating him and tearing several dreadlocks out of his head before throwing him out of the house.
The report says Washington then paced through the house, threatening to kill Stafford. When she called the Gresham police, he fled.
When the police arrived, they found Jabbie on the front porch of a house down the street. His face and arms were bruised, and one of his feet was cut from broken glass.
Stafford told police she and Washington had broken up several months earlier. She described him as a Crips gang affiliate who frequently carried a gun, adding that she had obtained a restraining order against him.
Portland police arrested Washington for the assault a short time later in Northeast Portland. Jabbie testified against him in front of a Multnomah County grand jury on Sept. 23, 2004. The next day, he was shot to death at his Clackamas County apartment.
Kraus describes both Washington and Stafford as "persons of interests" in Jabbie's death. According to Kraus, a number of witnesses say a woman who resembles Stafford was seen near Jabbie's apartment shortly before he was killed. Stafford did not return calls to the Portland Tribune for comment.
Despite Jabbie's death, the Multnomah County district attorney's office pressed the case against Washington. They took him to trial on the assault and unrelated robbery charges. Although Stafford refused to testify, prosecutors called the Gresham police who responded to her 911 call and another eyewitness who had been in the house that night.
Washington was convicted of the charges and sentenced to two years in the county jail, where he still is incarcerated.
But no one yet has been charged with Jabbie's slaying. Although the Clackamas County sheriff's office collected evidence from the murder scene, they still have not heard from anyone who knows what happened that night.
"It's frustrating, because we know whoever did it has probably talked about it. People know what happened, but they aren't talking yet," Kraus said.
Sealed lips stall investigations
Portland police are frustrated by the numerous homicide cases they cannot solve because witnesses will not say what they know. The cases include these homicides since the beginning of the year:
• Richard Anthony Minnifield Jr., 17, was shot at 4:59 p.m. last Sunday in the intersection of North Haight Avenue and Emerson Street. He died after being transported to Oregon Health & Science University. Investigators believe Minnifield was shot while talking to several young black males.
• Robert Anthony Webster-Thomas, 24, was shot to death in the 1300 block of Northeast 108th Avenue during the early morning hours of Sept. 19.
• Eyo Nyong, 26, was shot to death outside the doorway of the J.D. Sports Bar in the 3500 block of North Vancouver Avenue at 9:52 p.m. July 27. Five black males were seen approaching Nyong before one of them pulled a gun and shot him.
• Chauntee Lamont Johnson, 28, was shot to death in the 8700 block of Southeast Division Street at 7:54 p.m. June 22. He was standing outside a car talking to two black male occupants before he was killed.
• Phillip Termane, 34, was shot to death in the driveway of an apartment complex in the 2400 block of Northeast Wasco Street at 7:14 a.m. March 21. A still-unidentified black male was seen running from the scene.
• Tameka Renee Hartley, 25, was shot around 7:15 p.m. Jan. 21 while standing on the porch of her house in the 5900 block of Northeast Ninth Avenue. Police believe multiple shots were fired at the house from a passing vehicle. It was described as a small- or medium-sized, dark-colored sedan with tinted windows.
The most ludicrous fact from the news report above is that the murder victim, Mohamed Jabbie, in most cities would have been offered witness protection. Why? The perp was a famous street enforcer for the Crips. But not in Portland, Oregon. Witnesses to crime do not receive protection here. Unless the witness, God forbid, is one of ruling class elite in the Peoples Republic of Oregon.
Why, why is it like that? What do the "elites" have to gain from the gang bangers?
Wh o 0 0 o o -- do -- youoooo think is running the show?
What? We are trying to catch the bad guys and the people living there won't help us? They give us the 'wall of silence'?
It's a quagmire! It's hopeless! Time to get out and give that occupied territory back to these 'crips'.
(/sarcasm)
I lived in SE Portland for a while, I'm in Salem now. I had to just about stand on my head before the Portland Police would take a report - they were insistent that it was a civil matter. After several days of playing phone tag, and "oh you just missed him" at the precinct, I went in with the actual code and said that I wasn't leaving until a report was taken and I got a copy of the police report. Dealing with the DA was even worse - the person had warrants in all the Portland area counties and Vancouver and King county. (this was in 2001) when I found out this person was in custody in Colorado - this summer - I let them know, they said "thank you, we won't extradite for these warrants" I'm not a fan of the Portland Police Department. *double checking to make sure I didn't use profanity in describing them*
Now I don't feel so bad. Seattle isn't the only thoroughly corrupt city in the Pacific Northwest.
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