Anchorage police are investigating three separate shootings that left one man dead and two others severely wounded. The shootings happened over 72 hours starting Friday night, and police say suspects have been arrested in two of the cases.
Court records show Santino Figueroa, 18, charged with second-degree murder in the fatal shooting, which took place at about 1:40 p.m. Saturday on the 4300 block of San Ernesto Avenue near Russian Jack Springs Park.
According to charging documents against Figueroa, a woman called police to report the shooting in one apartment of a multi-unit complex. The victim, who hasn’t yet been named by police, was found with at least three gunshot wounds including one to the head. Medics took him to Providence Alaska Medical Center, where he was declared dead.
Responding officers encountered Figueroa and his girlfriend, who also lived in the complex, outside of the building. According to the charges, they initially denied any knowledge of the shooting, but Figueroa later contacted police and allegedly confessed to the killing. His girlfriend gave two guns in plastic bags to patrol officers, the charges say.
According to the charges, surveillance video showed the victim, another man and a woman entering an apartment occupied by Figueroa and his girlfriend. The couple left about four minutes later.
“Figueroa is heard saying ‘They don’t even know me. They’re about to figure out who the (expletive) I am,’” police said in the charging document.
Soon afterward, police said, the video showed Figueroa returning to the apartment with a gun in each hand.
When police spoke with Figueroa, he allegedly told them he was upset because someone had stolen money from his girlfriend’s wallet in the apartment where the shooting occurred. He went back to his apartment, he said, and grabbed another gun before returning.
Figueroa said the fatal encounter involved the victim, who had a gun but did not have it out, as well as another man. When the victim asked Figueroa not to point his gun at him, Figueroa said he removed its magazine and cleared a round from the chamber – then reseated the magazine and chambered a round.
When Figueroa and the victim began to argue, he said, he felt the other man put a gun to his neck.
“Figueroa saw (the victim) reach for his waist and he saw the butt of the gun and then shot (him),” police said. “Figueroa then turned around and started shooting at the other male. Figueroa claimed he shot in self-defense.”
Figueroa was in custody Monday at the Anchorage Correctional Complex.
Police also responded to two shootings that caused life-threatening injuries.
The most recent happened early Monday. Police responded around 2:30 a.m. to the shooting on the 8900 block of Jewel Lake Road in South Anchorage. A 25-year-old male shot in the midsection was taken to a hospital.
Police say the suspect, later identified as 25-year-old Malcolm Thomas, left before officers arrived.
According to a charging document, Thomas was convicted in two assault cases last year and wearing an ankle monitor. Police say his ex-girlfriend’s boyfriend was struck in the leg at a home on Jewel Lake by a .45-caliber round fired from outside it. He was also grazed by two more rounds.
According to the charges, data from Thomas’ ankle monitor showed he was in the area of the shooting at the time. It also led police to a home on Lore Road, where police arrested him after he allegedly wiped down and threw an object from a balcony. Officers searching the area below the balcony found a .45-caliber handgun.
Thomas was arrested and faces several charges including assault, weapons misconduct, reckless endangerment and tampering with evidence. He’s in custody at the Anchorage Correctional Complex.
There are few details available about the other shooting. Police say they responded to the 5000 block of Mountain View Drive at about 9:30 p.m. Friday in reference to a shooting. The victim, an adult man, had checked himself into a hospital for treatment.
Investigators are asking that anyone with information, including surveillance video, to call police at 311.
Correction: An earlier version of the story misspelled Malcolm Thomas' first name.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to include additional information about the shooting in Jewel Lake.
