Anchorage police have arrested a 14-year-old suspected of fatally shooting an 18-year-old outside a Midtown drugstore Sunday. The shooting was the result of a drug deal gone awry, police said.
Detectives have detained the teen suspect but have not released his name. Police said that because of his age, the case will be referred to the state's Division of Juvenile Justice for possible delinquency proceedings.
Few details were released Sunday evening when police responded to a report of an apparent shooting victim in the area of Lake Otis Parkway and Tudor Road just after 8:30 p.m.
Mike Couturier, sergeant of the Anchorage Police Department's robbery and assault unit, said two groups of teens, including the suspect and the victim, agreed to meet at a Walgreens in that area for a drug deal.
"During the transaction, the suspect and the victim got into an altercation that ended when the suspect produced a gun and fired it once, striking the victim who was sitting in (a) vehicle," spokesperson Anita Shell wrote in a news release.
Couturier said the shooting happened in the drug store's parking lot. He declined to say what type of drug was being sold and who was selling the drugs.
"The drugs are illegal, and they aren't for sale at any store, (including) Walgreens," the sergeant said. "And they shouldn't be sold on the street; it causes issues like this."
Friends drove the victim, identified as Charles Gustav Steinhilpert III, to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead 20 minutes later, she wrote.
Police originally reported the victim was 16 years old, but later corrected the information.
There could be additional charges related to the shooting and other incidents, Couturier said. Witnesses who were present at the time of the shooting bear some responsibility, he said.
The suspect called police about an hour after the shooting and turned himself in, Couturier said.
The incident marks Anchorage's first homicide of 2015. Detectives are asking anyone who may have witnessed the incident to call them at 907-786-8900.
A Walgreens manager directed questions to the company's corporate office. Business carried on normally Monday afternoon with no visible signs of the shooting or the subsequent investigation in the store's parking lot.
Couturier could not recall a violent crime as serious as Sunday's shooting committed by someone 14 or younger in the past year. However, he said "a lot" of the violent crimes his unit investigates involve teens, as both suspects and victims.
Some of the city's young residents "have relationship issues, pride issues," Couturier said. "If they feel they've been disrespected, they go overboard in counteracting that."
As for the number of recent shootings, the sergeant contended that what many consider a spike may be a feeling rather than fact.
"I think (the shootings) have gotten more attention lately," he said. "I don't know that there's been an increase. Certainly, any type of crime goes up and down for a variety of reasons … One of the things we can predict, though, is better enforcement by police and better assistance and observation by citizens."
The 14-year-old could face charges as an adult; a judge will have to decide whether or not that would be appropriate.
Deputy district attorney Clint Campion said the laws for prosecuting young defendants 16 and older as adults comes with more control.
Alleged offenders younger than 16 can face charges as adults, too, through what is known as a discretionary waiver. During a hearing, a judge determines if the juvenile might be open to treatment. If the teen is not "amenable to treatment," there is potential to try as an adult.
If a judge finds the opposite, the defendant can remain under the supervision of the juvenile justice division until age 20.
Campion said the Anchorage District Attorney's Office is still evaluating the Walgreens shooting's investigation and has not decided on whether to go forward with a discretionary waiver hearing.
"It's not an easy decision at all to take a 14-year-old and prosecute that person as an adult," Campion said. "The fact that someone was killed is a tragedy, but we have to determine whether it's prosecutable."