Driver who fatally struck woman in shelter parking lot has history of mental illness and vehicle theft

UPDATE 11 a.m. Friday:

Police identified the woman who was killed as 59-year-old Veronique Long. The name of the man who was injured has not been released.

Original Tuesday story:

A man accused of striking two people with a stolen vehicle Friday in the parking lot of the Brother Francis Shelter, leaving one dead, has a history of mental illness and stealing cars, according to court records.

On Saturday, Duop Tharjiath, 23, was charged with manslaughter, first-degree assault, vehicle theft and providing a false identity, according to charging documents filed with Anchorage District Court. He completed his probation for an earlier vehicular theft just two weeks before the Friday incident.

The victims were identified only by their initials in the documents. Police have not yet released their names.

Police said Tharjiath did not appear to know either of the people he struck. They have been described as patrons of Brother Francis Shelter and nearby Bean’s Cafe, according to officials. It wasn’t immediately known why Tharjiath was at the shelter.

“The death is a tragedy for all of us,” said Lisa Aquino, executive director at Catholic Social Services, which runs the shelter.

Police reviewed video footage that shows the victims, a man and a woman, walking “immediately” behind the car before the defendant backed out of a parking spot “at a high rate of speed,” charging documents said.

The female victim was thrown back and landed on her stomach before the vehicle ran over her. She later died at a hospital. The man was knocked to the ground, receiving “serious physical injury," according to the documents.

Tharjiath put the car in drive but crashed it into a storage unit. He tried to run from the scene, but arriving officers took him into custody. Tharjiath identified himself by a false name, but police quickly realized he was lying, according to the documents.

Tharjiath stole the car, a black Pontiac, from the parking lot of Cash America pawnshop in the Mountain View neighborhood, police said. Its owner had left the vehicle running.

In November 2016, Tharjiath stole a Ford Expedition that was running, with the key in the ignition, outside the Black Angus Inn near downtown Anchorage, according to charging documents filed then.

About half an hour later, he turned a corner too fast and slammed the vehicle into two parked trucks at a car lot in the area. Responding officers said Tharjiath appeared to have “mental health issues.”

Tharjiath was admitted to Alaska Psychiatric Institute in May 2017 for a period of time in association with that case.

He pleaded guilty to first-degree vehicle theft in August 2017. That began a period of probation, according to court records filed by the Alaska Division of Probation and Parole. On June 6, 2018, the case was reopened after Tharjiath stole another car and swerved all over the road after he left a supportive group home, court records show.

“It appears that the defendant had a mental illness episode and ended up leaving his housing and taking a running vehicle with keys in the ignition a short distance away from his group home,” according to an affidavit signed by an adult probation officer.

[Alaska’s system for evaluating mentally ill defendants hits the breaking point]

Tharjiath was again admitted to API in association with the case, though it’s unclear when. On Jan. 30 of this year, Anchorage Superior Court Judge Michael Wolverton issued a temporary order that Tharjiath be moved from API to the custody of the Department of Corrections.

But Jaffer Khimani, an attorney with the Alaska Public Defender Agency representing Tharjiath, asked for that temporary order to be voided, court records show.

Khimani’s request said “Dr. Becker” -- Kristy Becker was the chief forensic psychologist at API then -- had said it would be “detrimental” to Tharjiath’s health if he was removed from API, according to a document signed by Khimani.

On Feb. 4, the case was determined to be closed by Judge Wolverton. Tharjiath’s probation ended April 11.

The state Department of Health and Social Services said it could not provide information about whether Tharjiath was a patient at API, citing state and federal privacy records.