Man suffers life-threatening injuries after shooting inside boarded-up East Anchorage motel

A shooting in a boarded-up East Anchorage motel early Tuesday left a man hospitalized with life-threatening injuries, police said, and another man who told police he owned the building was charged with assault.

Robert Alexander, 52, is accused of shooting Travis Houx inside the vacant Big Timber Motel, at 2037 E. Fifth Avenue. According to the charges, Houx, who was in the vacant building with his wife, suffered a single gunshot wound to the chest and was hospitalized.

Alexander, who told police he owned the building, was charged with three felonies and a pair of misdemeanors, including assault, misconduct involving a weapon and reckless endangerment. He appeared in court Tuesday and was being held at the Anchorage Correctional Complex.

According to charges, Alexander called Anchorage police around 2:47 a.m. Tuesday and told dispatch that he had shot someone at the motel. While he waited for police to arrive, the charges say, Alexander also asked an ambulance to respond, charges say.

When police arrived, Alexander told officers “he owned the building, he entered because he thought it had been broken into, a man threw something at him so he shot him,” charges say.

According to charges, Houx’s wife Elizabeth, told police she and her husband were inside the boarded-up motel and had planned to stay the night. She told police Houx had passed out so she decided to sleep next to him on a mattress in one of the motel rooms, charges say.

“Elizabeth stated that the next thing she knew she heard Travis say ‘whoa’ and then heard shots going off,” the charging document says. She told police she thought there were “6 to 9” gunshots.

She told police Alexander pointed the gun at her and told her to “stay right there.” Police found six empty 9mm bullet casings in the building and a 9mm Smith and Wesson pistol was found in the trunk of Alexander’s car, charges say.

Alexander was taken to the Anchorage Police Department, where officers say they noticed he “reeked of alcohol," according to the charges.