Police have released the identity of the man who was shot to death on Woodford Street on Tuesday, but did not provide further details on the murder or whether any progress has been made in locating the perpetrator. Derald Coffin, 43, of West Bath, died from his gunshot wounds at about 1 a.m. Tuesday, police said. An autopsy was performed by the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office, but police are hiding the results, the department said in a written statement. The coffin was found outside 107 Woodford St., police said. No one has been arrested and police have refused to answer questions about a newer black Range Rover towed from the spot. An unnamed 27-year-old woman was also shot. Police said he was taken to Maine Medical Center and released. But Major Robert Martin declined to say whether the woman had worked with investigators. “(This) is not something we would circulate,” Martin wrote in an email exchange. The shootings erupted after an argument between an unknown number of people outside. Advertising Many neighbors interviewed Wednesday said they heard voices outside before the shots were fired. Four people interviewed said they suspected the shooting was in some way related to a problematic property on the square, a multi-unit building, but no one knew for sure if it had anything to do with it. A neighbor who did not want to be involved in the investigation gave her name only as Halen said she heard voices, stopped her TV and got up to look outside, but could not see anything. “I heard a male voice screaming, ‘No!’ Said Halen, 22, who has lived near Woodford Street for nearly two years. “It simply came to our notice then. “Two seconds after the first shot, there were three more.” A Portland detective called her Wednesday to ask questions, she said. The researcher was interested in learning about “illegal activity” in the area. Another resident, Nia Greav, who lives across the street from the crime scene, said she saw bloody clothes on the street on Tuesday morning and police flooding the area. Greav said she has lived on the building block since 2017, and a multi-family building has always been a problem. He said he believed he had seen rescue workers watch three suspected drug overdoses inside, all of them fatal. “There are people fighting here until the wee hours of the morning,” Greav said, referring to drug problems. Advertising However, the police did not answer questions about the deadly overdose to the administration of the problematic building and remains unknown from where the disagreement involved in the shooting or what led them to the asphalt piece come from. Another neighbor, Cori, 61, who lives on the corner but refused to give her last name for fear of retaliation, said that since she moved to the neighborhood five years ago, she suspects there was drug activity nearby. Monday night, Corey said, was watching a show about Johnny Depp’s defamation trial when he heard a commotion outside followed by a series of loud pop. He heard noises that sounded like he had closed the trash can or fired. Then another neighbor told her the sounds were shots. Cori said she hid inside her house and was looking forward to leaving in a few months. Sometime after midnight, he said, he looked outside and saw what he thought was a corpse on the street. He also mentioned the annoying property. “Ever since I moved, there has been a lot of movement in and out, in and out,” Cori said. “I do not know how many times I have been out here and seen someone leave that place, walk down that alley and do his own thing, shoot or smoke something.” About four months ago, Cori said, she saw a man leave the troubled building and consume an unknown substance. Then she began to act erratically, wandering around her front lawn and looking on the ground for something. He struggled to keep his balance, almost falling face down on the ground and shouting and trying to turn over a trash can. Advertising “It was rolling on the ground,” Corey said. “It’s scary. I called the police because I do not want anyone to overdose in my yard.” Another neighbor, who declined to be named because the perpetrator had not yet been arrested, said he slept through the incident but was not surprised by the escalation. “(This property) always had some interesting characters hanging out,” said the man, who has been living within walking distance of the unit for two years. “You get people who don’t stay there shouting (asking someone) to let them in.” Visits from strangers were more noticeable in the summer and took place about three times a week, the man said. No one answered at the front door of the building and a tenant in a back apartment refused to be interviewed. Advertising
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