Crime & Courts

Anchorage man charged with murder in shooting of wife

A man has been charged with first- and second-degree murder in the shooting death Thursday of his wife in their Campbell Park home.

Adam Wayne Sullivan, 40, was arrested outside of the Lowe's store at Old Seward Highway and O'Malley Road on Thursday evening, police said Friday.

Just before 4 p.m. Thursday, dispatchers received a 911 call from a 13-year-old saying her mother had been shot at the home on 5410 Trena St., off Lake Otis Parkway south of Tudor Road.

Arriving officers found 37-year-old Brandy Sullivan dead. She had been shot multiple times, said Lt. John McKinnon, commander of the Anchorage Police Department's homicide unit. Bullet casings from a .380-caliber handgun were found on the floor, according to the affidavit filed in the case Thursday.

While officers were at the house, a friend of Sullivan's contacted police. She said Sullivan told her he had harmed his ex and "that he was done, and that everything was over," the affidavit says. Sullivan told her he had a gun and was heading to Girdwood.

The friend called Sullivan's brother, telling him she thought Sullivan was planning to end his own life. The brother met Sullivan at a bar. He seemed distraught and said he "f—ed up," the affidavit says.

The brother called police and followed Sullivan when he left the bar. He provided police updates and a description of Sullivan's green Honda car until he lost sight of it near O'Malley and Old Seward, the affidavit says.

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Officers tracked Sullivan to inside Lowe's, McKinnon said. When Sullivan went out a back exit, police arrested him. He was compliant, and the only statement he gave was that he didn't want to talk to police, McKinnon said.

In Sullivan's possession were two .380 handguns and a partial box of ammunition, the affidavit says.

The 13-year-old and an 11-year-old were in the home at the time of the shooting. Both were physically unharmed. They were staying with relatives Friday, McKinnon said.

Police are calling the shooting a case of domestic violence.

"It's a family member that was the deceased, so that automatically makes it domestic violence," McKinnon said. The family had prior domestic violence history, he said.

Sullivan was separated from his wife and had filed for divorce in January. He had not been living at the house, the affidavit says.

Sullivan was charged with murder in the first and second degree, online court records show. He was given no bail, McKinnon said.

Laurel Andrews

Laurel Andrews was a reporter for the Anchorage Daily News, Alaska Dispatch News and Alaska Dispatch. She left the ADN in October 2018.

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