‘She lived in fear of him’: Anchorage man charged in shooting death of wife

An Anchorage man is charged with shooting his 29-year-old wife in the head in their East Anchorage home early Sunday.

Chue Yang, 31, was arrested early Sunday morning on criminally negligent homicide and manslaughter charges in the death of his wife, identified in court documents as Nancy Xiong.

Yang contends the shooting was accidental.

At Yang’s arraignment on Sunday, prosecutors said the two had been locked in a violent relationship.

“She lived in fear of him every day,” said assistant district attorney Betsy Bull.

More than two dozen family members of Xiong attended Yang’s court hearing Sunday, some weeping as he stood before the judge.

Prosecutors suggested that charges could change as the investigation moves forward.

“The defendant hid the gun he used to kill his wife. He did not call 911. He fled the scene,” Bull told the packed courtroom.

A police affidavit filed in court with charges against Yang offered an initial account of what happened in the home Saturday night and early Sunday morning: At 12:36 a.m. on Sunday, a 911 call came in to Anchorage police.

The caller told dispatchers “someone was dead and that the husband had blood all over him,” according to the affidavit.

Yang had called Xiong’s brother and told him his sister was dead, the affidavit said. The brother and other family members drove to the home, located on the 700 block of Klevin Street in East Anchorage.

They found Yang “walking in the street, covered in blood,” according to the affidavit.

Xiong was dead on a bed in the house, the affidavit said.

Yang then locked himself in another bedroom, according to police. Officers had to kick down the bedroom door to get to him.

Yang later told detectives the two had been at a party earlier in the night. His wife had come home early, and he’d come later.

Yang told police he had been “trying to show Xiong how to protect herself from intruders using a handgun” when the gun accidentally fired when he was shaking it in her direction.

There were at least two children home at the time of the shooting, Bull said.

Bail was set at $200,000 for Yang.