One man has been charged in connection with the shootings outside a East Anchorage bar early Monday that left two people dead, and police said Tuesday they're looking for another man a police spokesman called a "person of interest" in the case.
Officers are searching for 25-year-old Lee Chee Chang, who is described as 5 feet, 7 inches tall, about 230 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes, police said. Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call police at 786-8900.
Police spokesman Lt. Dave Parker said homicide detectives were still on the lookout for multiple suspects in the shooting outside J.J.'s Lounge in Muldoon. The gunfire that erupted Monday just after midnight killed Ka Meng Chang, 28, whose body was found on Muldoon Road, and Emelio Salvadore Ramirez, 35, who was found dead in the bar parking lot, police said. Two others remained hospitalized on Tuesday from the shootings.
The detectives were not saying if they thought Lee Chee Chang was one of the gunmen in the shooting, Parker said. "He's a person of interest the detectives definitely need to make contact with," Parker said.
Another man not suspected to have fired a gun was charged late Monday in connection with the killings, the police spokesman said.
Vang Chang, 29, of Anchorage, ran away from the scene of the shooting with a handgun he took from one of the shooters, police said.
According to a charging document filed in court by prosecutors Tuesday, police responded to multiple 911 calls about 12:15 a.m. Monday reporting shots fired at the bar.
"The initial report was that someone had been shot in the head while he or she was on the ground," the court papers say.
The charging document says a man named Richard Irwin told a detective he was driving north on Muldoon Road when he saw what he thought was a drunk person lying in the road. Irwin noticed a commotion in the bar parking lot, assumed there was a fight, then saw someone in a blue jacket holding a handgun. The man in the blue jacket fired a shot into another person on the ground in the parking lot, Irwin told police.
Another person wearing a red hat and jacket, later identified as Vang Chang, took the gun from the shooter and tried to hide it in his jacket, according to the charging document. Chang ran and Irwin followed in his vehicle until Chang pulled the gun out of his jacket and pointed it at Irwin, the court papers say. That's when Irwin backed off, police said.
Officers found Vang Chang hours later and brought him to the police department for questioning, Parker said. Chang admitted to taking the gun and running across Muldoon Road before tossing it, but he denied pointing the gun at anyone, the court papers say.
Chang is charged with misconduct involving a weapon, assault and tampering with physical evidence, Parker said. He was previously convicted of an out-of-state felony, second-degree criminal sexual conduct in Detroit, Mich., according to the charging document.
Parker said investigators believe Vang Chang and Ka Meng Chang are related, but their connection to each other or Lee Chee Chang remained unclear late Tuesday.
Another man and a woman were also struck and injured by the gunfire, police said. The man suffered gunshot wounds to his arms, and the woman, her injuries unknown, was still listed in critical condition at a local hospital on Tuesday, Parker said.
Parker said Ramirez often went by the name Mario Lopez, and an owner of the bar told the Daily News on Monday that the injured woman was in a relationship with "Mario." He was a regular pool player at the bar, said J.J.'s co-owner Jerry Buffington. Buffington said he'd heard that Mario exchanged words with another person in the bar, and the argument escalated outside.
Parker concurred and said detectives had interviewed several witnesses besides Vang Chang and Richard Irwin.
"This was not a shooting that took place in a vacuum," Parker said. "There was a fracas inside the building that took place, and then the shooting outside."
Reach Casey Grove at casey.grove@adn.com or 257-4589.
By CASEY GROVE
Anchorage Daily News