Assistant Attorney General Lisa Bogue delivers her closing arguments Tuesday in the double murder case against Aaron Aldrich, 47, of Auburn. He was found guilty in the shooting deaths of a Massachusetts man and a Lewiston teenager found dead in a home in Poland on Feb. 20, 2023. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

AUBURN — A local man was convicted Tuesday in the murder of a Massachusetts man and a Lewiston teenager at a home in Poland last year.

It took a jury of nine women and three men less than two hours to find Aaron Aldrich, 47, guilty of intentionally or knowingly killing Shoeb Mohamed Adan, 21, and Mohamed Aden, 16 on Feb. 20, 2023.

Each count is punishable by 25 years to life in prison.

His sentencing is set for Nov. 22.

The jury also convicted Aldrich of possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, a felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

He showed no reaction when the verdicts were read aloud.

Aaron Aldrich, right, and his attorney, Thomas Carey, listen as Assistant Attorney General Lisa Bogue presents her closing arguments Tuesday at Androscoggin County Superior Court. Aldrich faces charges in the double murder of two men in Poland. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

The seven-day trial in Androscoggin County Superior Court was capped off by testimony from Aldrich, who described how he acted in self-defense.

But prosecutors presented witnesses who cast doubt on Aldrich’s claim and evidence that contradicted his version of events.

“We’re pleased with the jury’s verdict,” Assistant Attorney General Lisa Bogue said after the verdict. “We had a good team with state police and all of our prosecution team and so we’re obviously very happy to see guilty on all grounds.”

Aldrich took the witness stand Monday and continued on Tuesday, saying he was ambushed by Adan after going to a mobile home at 205 Tripp Lake Road in Poland to sell drugs where Adan was staying.

Aldrich said Adan was upset and yelling at him, then Aden picked up a rifle that was leaning against a wall.

Aldrich said he grabbed the gun with one hand.

“I felt in danger,” he testified.

Aldrich hit Adan in the face with the gun and the man fell backward into a chair, Aldrich said.

“I said, ‘What the f…’s your problem?'”

Adan was drunk, Aldrich said.

Aldrich held the rifle in one hand.

Adan rolled to one side, then reached up with a handgun, Aldrich said.

Aldrich shot him, but then Adan “came right at me” with the handgun and pointed it at him, he said.

He shot Adan two more times, then Adan “dropped at my feet.”

Aldrich said he moved to the living room, still holding the rifle, when he glimpsed a figure holding a gun in the reflection of a window. He turned and shot, he said.

“I was freaked out by that,” he said. “I just turned around and reacted.”

He said he thought the figure was Adan.

Aaron Aldrich of Auburn listens as Assistant Attorney General Lisa Bogue delivers her closing arguments Tuesday in his double murder case. On the screen is a photograph of 21-year-old Shoeb Mohamed Adan of Massachusetts, whom Aldrich’s lawyer claims was a drug customer. Aldrich was convicted of both murders. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

Aldrich’s attorney, Thomas Carey, called it a “quintessential” case of self-defense.

Bogue told the jury in her closing argument Tuesday that Aldrich had targeted his two victims, aiming to kill and rob them. He fired a total of seven rounds, never missing his marks, she said.

Aldrich bragged about his actions afterward, telling a witness, “I killed those two. I flanked them, I flogged them,” Bogue said.

“He has found weaker, smaller, younger boys that he can go and take from,” she told the jury.

Adan had been showing off his thousands of dollars and Aden had simply been at “the wrong place at the wrong time,” Bogue said.

Aldrich had told several people that he would not leave witnesses behind, Bogue said.

The Hi-Point 9 mm semi-automatic rifle Aldrich said was already in the Poland home when he went there unarmed that day was, in fact, featured in Aldrich’s Facebook page and had been at his girlfriend’s house.

“Suddenly, that gun just magically appears” at the mobile home, Bogue said.

It was there because Aldrich brought it with him, concealed in a tool bag, she said, surprising his two victims.

Testimony, autopsy results and evidence found at the scene showed Aden was sitting in a chair in the living room holding a cellphone when Aldrich shot him, Bogue said. Adan was in a bedroom, holding a cellphone, when Aldrich then shot him, she said.

No handgun was found in that room, Bogue said.

When authorities found him, Adan”s pockets had been turned out, she said, suggesting he had been robbed.

Prosecutors said Aldrich’s actions following the shootings — including taking a photo of himself holding money and a bag of bloody evidence, stealing a van, and fleeing the state — all pointed to his guilt, not self-defense.

An Androscoggin County Sheriff’s deputy responded to the Poland home for a welfare check, his body camera showing video footage of discovering the two bodies.

The victims had been selling illegal drugs out of the home. The two had bought a generator from Aldrich, which he brought to the home two days before the shootings.

Aaron Aldrich of Auburn listens Tuesday to Assistant Attorney General Lisa Bogue deliver her closing arguments at Androscoggin County Superior Court in his double murder trial. On the screen is a photograph of 16-year-old Mohamed Aden of Lewiston, whom prosecutors claim was Aldrich’s first victim. Aldrich was convicted on both counts. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

The victims reportedly called him to complain that the generator wasn’t working. While staying in a hotel room after the shootings, Aldrich reportedly told an ex-girlfriend about the incident, stating he had been threatened over the generator.

Aldrich had been given a ride to the mobile home by a friend of his ex-girlfriend, Brandi Frost, who reported that he entered the trailer with a red Milwaukee tool bag. Later that night, Aldrich asked Frost to get rid of the bag and threatened her, according to prosecutors

Later that night, Aldrich took off with another girlfriend, Brittany Manzo.

On Feb. 24, 2023, Aldrich’s phone was tracked to The Mall at Rockingham Park in Salem, New Hampshire.

Police in Brunswick said they suspected Aldrich had stolen items from a Lowe’s store in that city, then stole a Ford van with Maine license plates from the store’s parking lot on Feb. 22, 2023.

Two days later, Aldrich was seen in the parking lot of a Macy’s store at the New Hampshire mall. That evening, a New Hampshire police tactical team was deployed at the mall. Aldrich fled the parking lot, down a flight of stairs and was eventually taken into custody. During the chase, police said Aldrich tossed a loaded Glock 9 mm pistol and 20-round 9 mm magazine.

Aaron Aldrich listens to Assistant Attorney General Lisa Bogue deliver her closing arguments Tuesday in his double murder trial at Androscoggin County Superior Court in Auburn. On the screen is a photograph of the Hi-Point 995, 9mm rifle used in the killings. Aldrich gave the weapon, in a bag, to his girlfriend to dispose of. A jury convicted him of killing a Massachusetts man and a Lewiston teen at a Poland home Feb. 20, 2023. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

During cross-examination on Tuesday, he admitted having had those items before dumping them.

When the tool bag was turned over to police, they found a Hi-Point 995, 9 mm rifle with an empty magazine, two shoes and several pairs of pants. Much of the clothing had what appeared to be blood stains.

The rifle was determined to be the weapon used in the shootings, and DNA tests of the clothing detected both Aldrich’s and the victims’ DNA, prosecutors said. Phone records also placed Aldrich at the Tripp Lake Road address during the suspected time of the shooting.

Aldrich’s phone showed discussion of “the job he needed to do” on Feb. 20 to make some money. Aldrich’s photo of himself holding a fistful of money and the tool bag was taken just after midnight on Feb. 21, right after the shootings took place, prosecutors said.

“This was not self-defense,” Bogue told the jury Tuesday, “this was an ambush.”