Crime & Courts

Woman paralyzed as result of alleged accidental shooting, Anchorage DA says

An Anchorage grand jury has handed up a felony assault charge against Joseph Lock, 22, for recklessly discharging a firearm and injuring a woman in an apartment above his, according to the District Attorney's Office.

District Attorney Clint Campion said in a release that the bullet entered the victim's lower back and exited through her shoulder, puncturing her heart in the process.

"As a result of the gunshot wound, the woman is paralyzed below the waist," Campion said.

Anchorage police responded to the report of a woman who was shot at an apartment building on Mockingbird Drive shortly before 2 in the morning on June 2, according to the charges.

[Charges: Suspect in gunfire that wounded woman in another apartment claimed shooting was accidental]

An investigation revealed that the bullet came through the floor of her apartment during a party in the apartment below. Lock was hosting a party there, prosecutors said.

"Lock told officers that he accidentally fired the round which struck the ceiling in his apartment," Campion said.

Lock faces five to nine years in prison if convicted on a single first-degree assault charge. Lock remains jailed on a $20,000 bail.

Jerzy Shedlock

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

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