Crime & Courts

Police arrest 3 men in connection with stabbing death in Midtown Anchorage

Three men have been arrested in the stabbing death of another man on East Northern Lights Boulevard on Wednesday, according to the Anchorage Police Department.

Police spokesman MJ Thim said three suspects have been charged: Shalom Gilmore, 27; Ralph Jim, 39; and Bert Jones Jr., 32. Jones stands accused of stabbing the victim, Thim said.

The victim was identified as 28-year-old Philip Cleveland. Police previously said everyone involved in the stabbing is believed to be homeless.

Gilmore and Jim were arrested Thursday night in the area of Northern Lights and A Street. Gilmore faces first-degree murder charges, while Jim faces charges of murder in the second degree, police said. Jones was arrested Friday around the same area and faces first- and second-degree murder charges, police said.

An investigation found a group of people were sitting at the side of a building on the 200 block of Northern Lights when two men started assaulting Cleveland without provocation, Thim said.

One of the men grabbed a knife and stabbed Cleveland multiple times, Thim said.

"During the assault and stabbing, the other people in the group began to walk away leaving the three males alone with the victim," according to the account from police. "After the stabbing, the three males left the scene."

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Passers-by walking alongside the building later found Cleveland, police said.

The police department thanked the public for help in the case, as well as businesses that provided video that helped with the investigation.

[Anchorage police seek 2 people in connection with 36th Avenue homicide]

Police are seeking two people in another Wednesday homicide. No arrests have been made in that case, involving a woman who was shot and hit by a vehicle.

Thim said the murder cases are isolated incidents.

Jerzy Shedlock

Jerzy Shedlock is a former reporter for Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2017.

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