Alaska State Troopers arrested a man accused of firing a gun near a Wasilla elementary school late Thursday afternoon, placing the school in lockdown twice and briefly entering a standoff with troopers at his home.
Troopers were first informed just before 5 p.m. that the man, 33-year-old Wasilla resident John O. Deckard, was brandishing a gun on Fairview Loop in front of Snowshoe Elementary School, according to a dispatch issued late Thursday.
Troopers spokesperson Megan Peters said in an email that Deckard, who was armed with a rifle and a pistol, ultimately surrendered to authorities about two hours after the incident began.
Joe Schmidt, the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District's coordinator for safety and emergency preparedness, said Friday that Snowshoe was placed on lockdown twice during the incident, with no injuries reported.
Schmidt said a worker performing maintenance on a generator outside the school saw Deckard, brandishing a gun, but not actively threatening people, at about 5:05 p.m. Thursday.
"There was a cross-country practice happening, and about 30 people were running outside the building," Schmidt said. "(The worker) said something to one of our teachers, and they started to round up students as they ran past the building."
Troopers alerted school staff about Deckard five minutes after the worker's report, as parents were convening outside the school to pick up students when the practice was scheduled to end at 5:15 p.m. Staff responded by bringing the parents and those with them into the school, then initiating the lockdown.
"There was about 90 people that came into the building and stayed in the gymnasium," Schmidt said.
Troopers told Snowshoe staff it was safe to lift the lockdown at about 5:25 p.m., and most people in the gymnasium left. But about five minutes later, Schmidt said, troopers asked staff to reinstate the lockdown.
As the school lockdown took place, Peters said troopers contacted Deckard on South Coleman Drive. A foot chase through the neighborhood ensued, in which Deckard led troopers to his nearby home — but briefly appeared to be heading for Snowshoe Elementary.
"He was on foot walking, kind of pacing," Peters said. "At one point he turned back toward the school."
During the encounter, Deckard allegedly made threats against at least one person near the school and fired about 10 rounds toward nearby homes. In response, troopers deployed a tactical vehicle as well as members of their Special Emergency Reaction Team.
"He threatened troopers as well as fired off his weapon multiple times," Peters wrote. "He also was barricaded inside of his residence for a while. Ultimately, he came out unarmed and was able to be taken into custody without further incident."
About 10 law-enforcement personnel were at the scene, according to Peters, including three Wasilla Police Department officers. Some road closures were in place along Fairview Loop and South Coleman Drive during the response.
Roughly 20 people were still at the school when the second lockdown began, and they gathered in the library until shortly after 6 p.m., when Schmidt said troopers notified them the incident had ended.
Schmidt said there were no immediate indications Deckard was the parent of a Snowshoe student or had any other links to the school. It wasn't clear whether Deckard had set foot on school grounds, but Schmidt said no students or staff were assaulted during the incident.
"It wasn't an active shooter attacking a school — it wasn't that kind of event, but we were taking precautions as if it was," Schmidt said.
Troopers are still investigating the case and determining whether anyone else was threatened by Deckard, Peters said.
Deckard was taken into custody on four counts of third-degree assault, plus one count each of first-degree stalking and fourth-degree misconduct involving weapons. Peters said the stalking charge was based on investigators' discovery that he "was outside of (and on the property of) a private residence and had caused damage."
Deckard was held at the Mat-Su Pretrial Facility on $5,000 bail. He was arraigned Friday morning.