A Koyuk man is charged with fatally shooting his father Saturday in the village of roughly 300 people. According to a charging document, the defendant told Alaska State Troopers he’d been smoking marijuana and blacked out before the shooting.
According to a trooper dispatch, dispatchers received word at about 5:45 p.m. Saturday that 35-year-old Franklin Adams had shot and killed his father, 74-year-old Dennis Adams, in their home.
Trooper spokesperson Austin McDaniel said nobody else was in the home at the time. Two troopers arrived in Koyuk, about 130 miles east of Nome, shortly afterward.
A charging document against Franklin Adams said he told troopers he had been assaulted — by whom is unclear. He then smoked some marijuana, which he said must have been laced with some other drug, because it caused him to black out and fall on the floor.
According to the charges, Franklin said that when he woke up the floor and his tooth were both cracked, and his lip was hurt.
Franklin told the troopers he grabbed a Remington 1100 semi-automatic shotgun from his bedroom.
Franklin went into the living room where Dennis was, according to the charges, but said he didn’t recognize his father.
“When Dennis turned towards him, he saw in Dennis’ eyes that he wasn’t Dennis,” troopers wrote.
Franklin told the troopers he fired a shot at Dennis but missed.
The charges say Franklin told troopers he loaded another shell and shot Dennis in the chest, causing him to fall to the floor in Franklin’s bedroom. Franklin said he couldn’t get a third shell in the chamber, so he grabbed a different shotgun from the living room, a Remington 870, along with a photo of his dead brother, and went back to his bedroom.
Franklin then dialed 911, according to the charging document, saying he “wasn’t feeling himself.”
Franklin is now charged with first-degree murder.
Court records showed Franklin Adams was held at Anvil Mountain Correctional Center in Nome as of Wednesday. His next court appearance is set for Jan. 11.
