Crime & Courts

‘I was scared’: Anchorage mother describes shooting next door

A party at a Mountain View apartment erupted into gunfire early Sunday, injuring one man and terrifying neighbors, including a woman and her 4-year-old daughter who huddled for safety during what they described as a sudden hail of gunfire.

One man was shot in the leg.

Police were called to an apartment complex at 834 North Lane Street at 1:48 a.m. on Sunday after 911 calls about a shooting, the Anchorage Police Department said in a statement Sunday.

A party with at least two dozen people was happening inside one of the apartments when "multiple shots were fired by at least two individuals," the statement said.

Neighbors in the unit adjacent to where the party happened were awoken by gunfire.

Around 1:30 a.m., neighbor Desiree Britt heard about five shots fired, she said.

Britt said she lives in the unit adjacent to the apartment where the shooting occurred.

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She heard a woman leaving the apartment.

"It sounded like she was saying, 'I don't want to go to jail,'" Britt said.

She said she then heard about 15 more shots outside.

"I grabbed my daughter. We were huddled up on the floor… if there were any more stray bullets I didn't want to risk it," Britt told reporters near the apartment complex on Sunday.

"I was scared," said her daughter, 4-year-old Vivianne Britt-Andre.

Britt said she called 911. Police got there quickly, she said.

Gunshots have become a regular weekend occurrence in her neighborhood, she said.

"It's a damn shame," she said. "I shouldn't have to fear for my life or my child's life."

Police found shell casings when they arrived, but most of the party attendees had already left.

About 10 minutes after calls about a shooting started to come in, a vehicle pulled up to an Anchorage hospital and unloaded a man with a gunshot wound to his leg, according to police.

The man had been shot at the apartment on North Lane Street, said APD spokeswoman Renee Oistad. His wound is not life threatening.

Police have not made any arrests in the shooting and did not release suspect information. Oistad would not say whether police believe the shooting early Sunday is connected to other recent violence in the Mountain View neighborhood, including a fatal shooting Thursday.

The suspects in that shooting, Mickee Thompson and Robert Smith, are still at large.

Photojournalist Bill Roth contributed reporting to this story. 

Michelle Theriault Boots

Michelle Theriault Boots is a longtime reporter for the Anchorage Daily News. She focuses on in-depth stories about the intersection of public policy and Alaskans' lives. Before joining the ADN in 2012, she worked at daily newspapers up and down the West Coast and earned a master's degree from the University of Oregon.

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