Crime & Courts

$110,000 bail for Anchorage man who held girlfriend at gunpoint

Bail has been set at $110,000 for a 35-year-old man who barricaded himself inside a downtown Anchorage apartment building Thursday night. Police apprehended Jeremiah Hancotte after they broke into his apartment four hours into the standoff and found him asleep on the floor. He had forcefully kept his girlfriend at the apartment, at one point allegedly causing the woman to drop her 11-month-old child, whose head struck the floor.

The standoff began with a 911 call. The victim, Hancotte's girlfriend, and her family called the police about a physical altercation between the couple that involved a firearm, according to an officer's affidavit.

Earlier in the day, the girlfriend went to visit her family, she told a responding officer. Hancotte disapproved of the visit because "her family does not like him and he does not like them," the affidavit says. She said she spoke to Hancotte while she was out; he told her not to come home.

But she did go home, and she was met by an intoxicated Hancotte, who tried to throw her out. She refused to leave and Hancotte allegedly pulled out a pistol (police say the defendant had a 9 mm and .45 caliber in the apartment). He pointed the gun at the woman and said she had "one chance" to leave, the affidavit says.

The girlfriend refused to leave without the couple's 11-month-old son, but Hancotte allegedly said she'd have to go through "him and his dead body if she wanted to take his son." According to the officer's account, he kept shouting and pointing the gun at the woman.

Out of fear for her child's safety, the woman attempted to leave, but Hancotte then refused to let her go, saying that if she left the cops would show up. He then pointed the gun at her head, the affidavit says.

When his girlfriend's family called to check on her, Hancotte grabbed the phone and allegedly threatened to "seriously injure" the family. While Hancotte was on the phone making threats, the girlfriend told police, she made a break for the door, grabbing her son in the process. Hancotte allegedly grabbed the woman by the hair and pulled back, "causing her to drop her son, whose head hit the floor." She tried again to grab her son and escape, only to have Hancotte grab her and punch her in the face multiple times. After numerous blows, the woman said she dropped the child "due to the strikes" and ran out the door.

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Then, the 911 call came in. Police contacted the defendant, who said he wouldn't harm the child but they'd have to come into the apartment to arrest him. He also allegedly made suicidal statements and said his son didn't deserve to have him as a father.

Anchorage police entered the apartment just after midnight, ending a four-hour standoff during which officers surrounded the apartment building, blocked nearby roads and told other residents of the building to stay inside their units. Hancotte was allegedly asleep on the floor. Police say they found the infant unharmed.

Hancotte has been charged with kidnapping, assault, reckless endangerment and being a felon in possession of a firearm. Police originally said he'd face an additional charge of criminal impersonation -- APD said Hancotte had someone else's identification on him when he was arrested.

An Anchorage jail court judge set the man's bail at $100,000 for the kidnapping case and $10,000 for a separately charged misconduct involving a firearms case, as Hancotte's a convicted felon Outside and shouldn't have owned guns. His previous charges included domestic violence offenses, larceny and obstructing an officer in Michigan. The judge also ordered no contact with the victim or the infant.

Contact Jerzy Shedlock at jerzy(at)alaskadispatch.com. Follow him on Twitter @jerzyms.

Jerzy Shedlock

Jerzy Shedlock is a former reporter for Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2017.

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