Police said Monday they have identified a suspect in last week’s fatal shooting on a MAX platform in North Portland and want the public’s help in locating him.

But police say they have reason to believe the suspect, Moyasar Osman Mohamed-Ahmed, has fled Portland and may have left the country. The suspect has previous arrests in Oregon, Washington and Nevada and has family in Saudi Arabia, according to court records.

Officers responded to reports of a shooting at 8:30 p.m. Thursday at North Interstate Avenue and Prescott Street. Responders found a Portland man, Sean K. Smeeden, dead at the scene.

Police didn’t say how they identified Mohamed-Ahmed as a suspect in Smeeden’s killing or why they believe he has left the area.

Multnomah County court records indicate Mohamed-Ahmed is 29 years old. He had previously been arrested in various jurisdictions for driving under the influence of intoxicants and disorderly conduct. Immigration authorities also zeroed in on him for being a foreign student failing to carry out his course of study.

In Multnomah County, Mohamed-Ahmed has pleaded guilty or no contest to disorderly conduct offenses and three counts of driving under the influence of intoxicants in separate incidents. He indicated after one arrest he had been a student at Portland Community College.

Most recently, Mohamed-Ahmed pleaded guilty in February to intoxicated driving and recklessly endangering another person, according to county records. He was fined $2,255 and sentenced to 14 days in county jail and three years of probation. Mohamed-Ahmed also had his driver license suspended for three years.

It’s not clear whether Mohamed-Ahmed has actually left Oregon. Court records indicate he speaks Amharic, a language widely spoken in Ethiopia. Hundreds of thousands of Ethiopian immigrants live in Saudi Arabia.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reported in 2019 that Saudi students charged with manslaughter, sex crimes and other felony crimes had vanished, apparently returning home with the suspected help of their government.

The FBI acknowledged the following year that the Saudi government “almost certainly” helps its citizens flee the U.S. when they are facing serious charges.

Shane Dixon Kavanaugh, reporter for The Oregonian/OregonLive, contributed to this report.

-- Mike Rogoway covers Oregon technology and the state economy. Reach him at mrogoway@oregonian.com.

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