Grand Jury Indicts 20-Year-Old in Killing of Portland Budtender, Other Armed Robberies

Prosecutors have charged Daniel Mugisha in connection with three armed robberies in Portland.

web_CuredWLapointe06 PHOTOGRAPHS: Yoo says she and Arthur became "fast friends" about four years ago, when he was a customer in her store.
By Tess Riski

The Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office announced Friday that a grand jury had indicted 20-year-old Daniel Mugisha for the murder of Michael Arthur, an employee at Cured Green cannabis dispensary in North Portland.

After 9 pm on Dec. 14, 2020, the 44-year-old Arthur let a customer into the store after checking his ID. As he entered the store, surveillance footage showed, three more men attempted to force their way inside. As Arthur tried to force the door closed on the intruders, the man who had already entered the store shot Arthur in the back, killing him.

The indictment alleges that Mugisha intentionally killed Arthur using a firearm during a robbery. Mugisha is charged with two counts of murder in the first degree with a firearm, three counts of murder in the second degree with a firearm, one count of robbery in the first degree with a firearm, one count of burglary in the first degree with a firearm, one count of possession of a stolen vehicle, and one count of unauthorized use of a vehicle.

As WW reported in March, Arthur’s death occurred amid a spate of cannabis shop armed robberies in Portland. By the time Arthur was killed, Portland cannabis shops had already been robbed, burglarized or looted 95 times in 10 months, according to data from the Oregon Liquor Control Commission.

Earlier this year, Mugisha was charged following a New Year’s Day armed robbery at the Collective Awakenings dispensary in Northeast Portland. As in the Cured Green robbery, prosecutors allege Mugisha was one of four men who robbed the dispensary.

Prosecutors said Mugisha jumped the counter of the Collective Awakenings cannabis shop in Northeast Portland. As he pointed a handgun at the employee, three others ran behind the counter and filled black garbage bags with cannabis.

After a witness called 911, police located the four suspects who had allegedly carried out the robbery, plus an apparent getaway driver. On Jan. 4, the DA’s office filed charges against the five suspects, two of whom were aged 17 and another 19. Two are students at Leodis V. McDaniel High School, and four of the five are immigrants from countries in Africa: Rwanda, Somalia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Today’s indictment also charges Mugisha in connection with a Nov. 23 robbery, where prosecutors say he attempted to murder four people using a firearm. For this incident, he faces four counts of attempted murder in the second degree with a firearm, one count of robbery in the first degree with a firearm, and two counts of assault in the second degree with a firearm.


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