Community members grieve Jaclyn Welcome, call for compassion and help for homeless Alaskans

It’s been just over a week since 37-year-old Jaclyn Welcome was shot and killed near downtown Anchorage, but the grief is still fresh for friends and family who knew her.

“I think we all share the same wish,” said her sister, Desiree Montenegro, during a memorial Sunday evening. “More time with her, more days with her, more hugs, more words.”

Roughly 50 people gathered on the Delaney Park Strip to honor Welcome’s life and advocate for people who are experiencing homelessness.

The man accused of killing Welcome and seriously wounding four others “complained about the homeless people who gathered there and expressed anger and frustration at them” before firing into a crowd of people near the intersection of Fourth Avenue and Gambell Street in the early hours of June 19, according to a report prosecutors filed with the charges.

Anchorage Police Chief Ken McCoy said he does not believe 21-year-old Anthony Herring — who is charged with murder and attempted murder — opened fire on the group of people because they were homeless, but because he had been involved in an altercation with them the day prior to the shooting.

Welcome’s sisters said more resources need to be available for those who are struggling.

Welcome struggled with addiction and mental health issues, but began experiencing homelessness about three years ago after falling into what her family describes as a toxic and abusive relationship.

She attempted to get help. Montenegro repeatedly tried to find room for her at an inpatient mental health or substance abuse program, but she was continuously turned down and told there was no space.

[Family of woman killed in shooting near downtown Anchorage details a life marked by struggle, and hope cut short]

Had there been more resources and if Welcome could have received the treatment and help she needed, maybe things would have been different, her family said.

Welcome was a mother to six children. Montenegro said Welcome loved her children and family deeply. She looked out for others and always tried to help, her sister Charlene Welcome said. The family had been trying to bring Jaclyn Welcome home and was hopeful because she expressed that she wanted to reconnect with family during their last conversations.

Attitudes toward homelessness have grown more hostile and dehumanizing in recent years, said the Rev. Matt Schultz, a pastor at First Presbyterian Church who helped organize Sunday’s memorial.

“What I hope for is that this will be an opportunity for people to remember that all people are worthy of human dignity and care and love,” Schultz said. “Hopefully if someone is at a public meeting and they hear them referred to as ‘vagrants’ or ‘animals’ that they will speak loudly against such a statement and lift up their humanity.”

The shooting has traumatized people in Anchorage who are experiencing homelessness, Schultz said.

“It’s a brief impact of trauma on top of the chronic trauma that’s already present,” he said. “And it’s yet another instance of dehumanizing influences in this town, which are not only violent acts like this, but also public rhetoric.”

Assembly member Chris Constant said the municipality will continue to work on finding solutions to homelessness.

“From this loss, our steps forward will be to improve what we have,” he said. “We will do better. And we will probably continue to fail, because these problems are hard. The challenges people face, the tragedies and traumas of every day on the street — it doesn’t get fixed with an easy answer. If there was an easy answer, we would have already done it.”