Police: Anchorage man accused of random attack on woman

Anchorage police said Wednesday that a local man employed as an air traffic controller has been charged with assault and harassment following an allegedly random and violent attack on a stranger.

Justin Schneider, 33, was arrested Tuesday night, Anchorage Police Department spokesperson MJ Thim said in a statement. Schneider faces charges of second- and third-degree assault and first-degree harassment.

Officers responded to the report of an assault around 1 p.m. Tuesday, Thim wrote. The victim was taken to a local hospital for emergency treatment, he wrote.

An investigation found, according to police, that Schneider offered a ride to a woman around Minnesota Drive and Spenard Road. The victim reportedly did not know Schneider.

She accepted the ride from Schneider, who did not take her to where she wanted to go; instead he drove to the area of 36th Avenue and Wisconsin Street and asked her to exit the vehicle, police said.

"As the victim walked away from the vehicle, the suspect tackled her, got on top of her, grabbed her neck with both hands to strangle her and told her he was going to kill her," Thim wrote. Schneider strangled the woman until she lost consciousness, he said.

Schneider is also accused of doing things "sexually to himself" while the woman was unconscious.

Following the assault, Schneider drove to work at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, where he is employed as an air traffic controller, police said.

Records show Schneider is jailed at the Anchorage Correctional Complex on an initial bail, set by warrant, of $30,000 cash.

Anyone with information about the incident, or whether Schneider may have assaulted other people, is urged to call police at 907-786-8900 (dial 0 to speak to an operator).