Crime & Courts

Man charged with murder in Togiak shooting claims self-defense

A Togiak man charged with murder in a shooting that left him wounded by an Alaska state trooper claims he fired in self-defense, according to the charges against him.

A charging document filed Wednesday in Anchorage accuses Richard Sears, 34, of shooting and killing 61-year-old Samuel Brito after Brito confronted him about an earlier fight Sears had with Brito’s son.

The fight apparently started after the son, Manuel Brito, “made numerous unwanted sexual advances” toward Sears’ sister and groped her, wrote Sgt. Scott Bartlett, who investigated the killing for the troopers.

The charges claim Sears left a gash in Manuel’s scalp, along with a bloody nose and facial bruising.

After Manuel left the Sears’ home, Sears’ sister noticed he’d left some of his belongings on the ground in front of the house and rode on a bicycle with her 8-year-old daughter to return them, Bartlett wrote.

Troopers said Samuel Brito, whom Manuel had told about the fight, came across Sears’ sister as she was riding and threw rocks at her, hitting her in the back of the head. She dropped the belongings in the road and returned home to warn her brother that Samuel Brito "was upset and might be on his way,” the charges say.

Witnesses told troopers Samuel Brito then walked to Sears’ house with an aluminum baseball bat in hand and began to yell, asking “who had assaulted his son.”

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That’s when Sears, who troopers say was standing at a window near the entrance to his house, shot Brito three times with a pistol, according to the charges.

Sears told troopers he fired in self-defense, claiming Samuel Brito "looked at him in a way that made him feel that Samuel was going to come into the house and hurt him,” according to the charges.

Sears then retrieved a rifle and shot Brito again while he was on the ground “to make sure he stayed down," he reportedly told troopers.

When a detective later asked whether that meant he wanted to make sure Brito was dead, Sears said, “That too,” Bartlett wrote.

Trooper Daniel Sadloske, who lived nearby, said he heard the three gunshots and walked toward the end of his home in time to see Sears fire the fourth shot. Troopers say Sadloske ordered Sears to drop the gun and fired at him when he refused.

Brito was pronounced dead at the scene by a Togiak health aide. Sears was taken to a hospital in Dillingham for medical treatment and booked into the Anchorage Correctional Complex on Friday. He has been charged with first- and second-degree murder in Brito’s death, and his bail was set at $500,000.

Madeline McGee

Madeline McGee is a general assignment reporter for the Daily News.

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