Police make arrest in Dimond Center shootings

Anchorage police said this morning than Jason Rak, 19, pulled a gun and started shooting during an argument with two brothers a little before 7:30 p.m. near the BestBuy entrance on the mall's northeast side. Rak is being held in the Anchorage Jail on a host of charges.

Both victims -- Michael Lewis, 23, and Mason Sylvester, 21, are in serious but stable condition at the Alaska Native Medical Center and are expected to survive their injuries, police said.

Sylvester was a bystander who just happened to be in the area and wasn't involved with the argument, police said.

According to a written statement issued by police this morning, here's what happened:

Rak was in the mall and came across Matthew Lewis, whom he had known previously. "The two men exchanged terse comments that were perceived as disrespect," the statement said, and two pair "challenged each other to fight outside of the mall."

Rak and Lewis were on the sidewalk just outside the mall entrance near BestBuy when Matthew Lewis' older brother, Michael, confronted Rak.

"Rak pulled a handgun from his clothing and fired multiple times at both of the Lewis brothers," the police statement said. "Michael Lewis was struck multiple times in the mid torso area. Matthew Lewis ran from the area and was not injured."

Sylvester happened to be approaching the area and was shot multiple times as well.

Rak fled the area was taken into custody a short time later near the Fred Meyer store on West Dimond Boulevard, police said.

While waiting for the police and medics to arrive at the shooting scene, the victims were tended by citizens, including an off-duty nurse and an Army sergeant and his wife.

"The APD is continuing to investigate the possibility of any gang related or motivated connection though there have been no confirmed information indicating this," the police statement this morning said.

Friday night, police were reviewing mall security cameras to see if any of them picked up the dispute. The shooting does not appear to be gang-related, said police spokesman Lt. Paul Honeman.

After the shooting, police converged on a clash at the hospital, where roving groups of friends on both sides of the dispute apparently met while looking for the victims, Honeman said.

Rak was charged with two counts of attempted murder, two counts of first-degree assault and one count of third-degree assault.

Earlier, police said Michael Lewis was shot multiple times in the torso. Sylvester took a bullet to the jaw, and police found another lodged in his cell phone, said Sgt. Lee Rohwer.

"At this point, we don't have anything to tie him to it," Rohwer said Friday night. "He could have been an innocent bystander that got whacked."

Police interviewed the uninjured brother, Matthew Lewis, then lost track of him as he faded into the crowd, Rohwer said. They later relocated him and detained him for questioning.

A witness, Tasha Phillips, said she had been standing near the bike rack at the entrance when she saw three men and two women come out of the building arguing. Phillips, who works at a hair salon inside the mall, said the argument looked bad and she went inside to alert mall security. As she was headed to the security office, she heard a shot, Phillips said, but didn't actually see anyone hit.

Just inside the mall doors at her job at Ritz Camera, Kelly O'Brien said she also heard gunfire.

"I heard the four shots, 'bam bam bam bam,' and I saw two guys laying on the ground out there," said O'Brien. "A lot of people ran (back inside the mall) screaming."

O'Brien said one young woman screamed, "It's my boyfriend." The woman was hysterical and mall security tried to calm her down, O'Brien said.

Phillips said she heard part of the argument that may have precipitated the shooting. "From what I heard, it was because somebody just stepped on somebody," she said.

Find Don Hunter online at adn.com/contact/dhunter or call 257-4349. Find James Halpin online at adn.com/contact/jhalpin or call him at 257-4589.