Five people, including two juveniles, have been arrested in connection with a March 28 shooting in Spenard. Court documents say the shooting was the result of a 15-year-old's plan to rob a pot dealer.
The alleged dealer, Steven Gene Holley, 28, has been charged with first-degree assault, weapons misconduct and drug crimes. He intended to sell a quarter-pound of marijuana for $800 to the teen, but ended up in a gunfight, according to documents.
Holley fired three shots at Shawn Vent, who returned fire in the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant, the teenager told police.
"The plan was for the (teen) to get into Steven's vehicle to make the drug deal. Vent was then to approach the vehicle with a gun and 'rob' (the teen) of the marijuana. They would then leave and meet up later and share the marijuana among them," Anchorage police officer Milton Jakeway reported in a criminal complaint against Holley.
The 15-year-old told police he came up with the idea of robbing Holley. Court documents do not say how he and Holley knew each other.
It's not the first instance of a planned robbery involving a drug dealer ending in bloodshed in 2015. Nineteen-year-old Makur Chan faces murder charges tied to two fatal shootings in Anchorage earlier this year.
Chan allegedly shot Jeanpal Borge, 20, once in the forehead. And he told police he witnessed the shooting that killed Charles Gustav Steinhilpert III, 18. In both instances, Chan was involved in plans to rob the victims, according to court documents.
Police initially reported little detail about the midday shooting in Spenard. They said at the time that witnesses said several shots were fired during an argument between two groups of people in a parking lot.
Descriptions of the vehicles and suspects were not released.
The officer's complaint says Dyllan Mawson drove two juveniles, Vent and "Jamal," to the Bear Tooth Theatrepub parking lot, near where the drug deal was supposed to take place, in his red Saturn Ion. The group knew "they were going to rob the guy for marijuana."
The 15-year-old told police he was in Holley's black Mustang when Vent walked toward the car with a gun. Holley pulled a handgun from the center console, exited his vehicle and opened fire.
Vent was shot in the leg. The group drove him to Alaska Native Medical Center. That's where police initially interviewed him and the teen and started to piece together the shooting.
The would-be robbers were all eventually arrested except Jamal, who police have yet to identify, according to the complaint.
Police seized Holley's Mustang on April 11 but were unable to locate him. According to online records, he made an initial court appearance on April 21. He is currently housed at the Anchorage jail.