Wasilla man charged for terroristic threatening in downtown Anchorage hotel standoff

a police officer outside
Anchorage police surround the area around the Hotel Captain Cook on Friday, April 15, 2022. (Lex Treinen/Alaska Public Media)

A Wasilla man faces a charge of second-degree terroristic threatening following a four-hour standoff at a hotel in downtown Anchorage on Friday. 

John Holman, 52, is being held at the Anchorage Correctional Complex on $5,000 bail. 

A sworn affidavit signed by Anchorage police officer Ross Henikman said that Holman called 911 on Friday afternoon and said he was at the Captain Cook Hotel. He told police he had 25 guns in his hotel room and wanted to shoot Alaska Natives and he asked police to kill him, according to the police officer. 

The officer wrote that when police arrived and located Holman’s room on the hotel’s top floor he started yelling profanities at the officers and barricaded himself in the room.

During the standoff, police blocked off several city streets around the hotel. Officers were seen carrying rifles. A drone hovered outside a window on the top floor of the hotel before Holman was arrested. 

The police officer’s affidavit says the hotel evacuated guests during the standoff. It also says a family member who arrived on scene told police they were concerned about Holman’s “mental status” and said he did have firearms “with him and in his vehicle.”

Holman owns a luxury sport fishing lodge in Bristol Bay, according to the company website. He’s also a certified commercial pilot, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

The Anchorage Police Department did not respond to questions about Holman’s arrest or the standoff.

Lex Treinen is covering the state Legislature for Alaska Public Media. Reach him at ltreinen@gmail.com.

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