In the late hours of November 21, 2014, a tragic event unfolded in a Portland, Maine apartment that cut short the life of 23-year-old Richard Lobor, a Black / African American man. Lobor, who had arrived in the United States with his family from war-torn Sudan in 2003, found himself in the midst of a heated dispute between two other men. In an attempt to de-escalate the conflict, Lobor stepped in, positioning himself as a peacemaker.
His intervention, however, proved fatal.
The argument took a violent turn when one of the men, Abdirahman Huessin Haji-Hassan, produced a handgun. He first shot Lobor in the leg before firing a second, fatal shot to his head. In the chaotic aftermath, Haji-Hassan fled the scene, sparking a multi-state manhunt. The investigation led authorities to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where Haji-Hassan was apprehended on December 19, 2014, nearly a month after the shooting. He was subsequently extradited back to Maine to face charges for the murder of Richard Lobor.
Abdirahman Huessin Haji-Hassan was charged with murder and, after a week-long trial in December 2016, a jury found him guilty. The court sentenced him to 39 years in prison in March 2017. The tragic loss of Richard Lobor deeply impacted his family, who had sought refuge and a better life in the United States. His father, Robert Lobor, expressed profound grief over the death of his eldest son, whom he described as a "special gift from God." The very place they had come to for safety became the scene of their devastating loss.
