A Wasilla man allegedly shot another man in the back of the head, killing him, at a Wasilla apartment building Saturday, according to documents filed in court.
Phillip Bailey, 37, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of 41-year-old Dale Prater, according to a written statement from the Wasilla Police Department.
According to a story in the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, Prater was a construction worker who lived in the same North Fanciful Place apartment building as Bailey.
A Wasilla police officer's affidavit filed in court says a gunshot was reported to 911 dispatchers about 6:35 p.m. Saturday. The officer, Bobby Rader, responded to the building and found Bailey standing outside with his hands on his head, Rader's affidavit says.
"As I was detaining him he spontaneously stated that 'Dale' was inside and that he had shot him," Rader wrote.
The officer found Prater lying on his back on Bailey's kitchen floor. There was a pool of blood under Prater's head, according to Rader's affidavit. Rader found a loaded Desert Eagle semi-automatic pistol on the kitchen table, he wrote.
A witness told the officer that Prater had just bought Bailey a pack of cigarettes before the shooting.
"As Prater was handing the cigarettes over, Prater told Bailey to 'add it to the bill.' Bailey's only reply was, 'That's what I thought,' " Officer Rader wrote.
Prater turned around, and that's when Bailey pulled the handgun from his waistband and shot Prater in the back of the head, according to the affidavit.
Witnesses said they were unaware of any problems between Bailey and Prater but that Bailey had been acting strange lately, the affidavit says. One witness said Bailey said something about Prater "plotting against him," Rader wrote.
Bailey allegedly told the officer that Prater had been interested in Bailey's personal property and his family's Permanent Fund Dividend checks, according to the affidavit. Bailey said Prater had pulled a knife on him earlier in the day, threatening him and his family, and that Prater's mother had asked him to sign paperwork allowing her to pick up his 7-year-old daughter from school, the affidavit says.
"Bailey believed this was a conspiracy and that something might happen to him," Rader wrote in the affidavit. "At that time he decided he needed to kill Prater."
Reach Casey Grove at casey.grove@adn.com or 257-4589.
By CASEY GROVE
Anchorage Daily News