The debt of other men and a single bullet to the chest killed Byzantium Hill early Sunday morning in East Anchorage, according to charges filed in the case earlier this week.
The charging documents say the shooting followed a string of violent text messages and death threats from 38-year-old Christopher Winters to two men identified in the documents only by their initials.
"Hopefully I can get cowboy boots made out of your skin ... That would be worth 7K to me!" Winters wrote in one of his final texts to the men early Saturday evening, charging documents state.
Winters is now charged with first-degree murder in Hill's death. Another man faces a burglary and second-degree murder charge, and police are still seeking two additional suspects in the fatal shooting.
During the last week of July, a man identified in the charging documents as "J.S." borrowed $2,000 from Winters, the court documents say; the money was to be repaid, with interest, in two weeks. When J.S. failed to repay Winters, he and a man identified as "K.W." started to receive the texts demanding they pay the money back immediately or face bloody consequences, the charging documents say.
The alleged threats turned into actions around 2 a.m. Sunday morning, when J.S. went outside a residence on Lane Street in East Anchorage. According to the charging documents, while he was outside, Quinton Henderson, 38, approached J.S. from behind and forced him back inside through a side door that led to the home's basement.
Henderson, who was armed and wearing a mask, lost his balance shortly after entering the Lane Street home and J.S. subdued him, the charging documents say. K.W., who was also at the house, helped in keeping Henderson down, but while they did, another suspect went into the home and began firing a handgun, charging documents say.
Hill, 19, was in the upper portion of the home with another person when the incident began. They looked outside, where they saw a man dressed in black standing in the carport, who began firing multiple rounds at the home, shattering a window. Hill started down a flight of stairs into the basement, "likely armed with his own firearm," charging documents say.
While on his way down the stairs, Hill took a single bullet to the chest. When other occupants of the house attempted to tend to his fatal wound, Henderson fled, the charging documents say.
One of the residents of the house caught up to Henderson as he fled and stopped him, according to the charges, and when police arrived they found the two a short distance from the home.
The man who had fired at the home from outside fled the scene, the charging documents say. A witness reported seeing two men fleeing the scene of the shooting and getting into a Chrysler 300 or similar vehicle.
"At least one of the men that fled the residence after the shooting is believed to have been injured and possibly suffered a gunshot wound," the charging documents say.
J.S. and K.W., who had first subdued Henderson in the basement, told police that Henderson claimed a man named "Chris" had sent him.
"Henderson later told detectives that the men were threatening him and asking him if 'Chris' sent him, so he finally just told the men that that it was 'Chris' that sent him so the two men would stop threatening him," the charging documents say.
"Chris" was determined to be Christopher Winters through information provided by the residents of the house, the charging documents say. They showed investigators their phones containing the threatening text messages.
When police questioned Winters, the charges say, he told them the men owed the $2,000 in their most recent debt and another $7,500 from previous debts, and admitted to sending the threatening messages.
"...(Winters) told the detectives that he had decided to give up on collecting the debt because it wasn't worth it," and insisted he never carried out the acts of violence, the charging documents say.
Winters was arrested and charged with first-degree murder and Henderson is charged with one count each of first-degree burglary and second-degree murder. Online court records show both men are being held on $250,000 bail.
Anyone with additional information about the incident is asked to call police at 907-786-8900 or submit an anonymous tip to Crime Stoppers at 907-561-STOP or online at anchoragecrimestoppers.com.