Shooting of man sleeping in South Anchorage parking lot was unprovoked attack, prosecutor says

The fatal shooting of a man lying on the ground in a South Anchorage parking lot last week was described by a prosecutor Monday as an attack on a sleeping homeless person without any apparent reason.

Ryan Dummler, a 32-year-old from Anchorage, is facing charges of first- and second-degree murder in the death of 51-year-old John Martin III. Martin made headlines in 2011 when he camped on a sidewalk outside Anchorage City Hall to protest the city’s treatment of homeless people.

The shooting, captured by a nearby security camera, occurred early Thursday morning in a parking lot in the 100 block of West Dimond Boulevard, a public place where Martin had apparently spent at least part of the night, authorities say.

The state prosecutor handling the murder case called the encounter unprovoked.

Martin was sleeping when Dummler walked up to him, pulled off his blanket and shot him multiple times, Assistant District Attorney Kaila Hurley said during a hearing Monday at the Anchorage Correctional Complex courtroom. Martin stayed on the ground, in the bed he had made, throughout the encounter, Hurley said.

She said the unprovoked nature of the attack represented an “extreme danger for the community, especially the homeless community here in Anchorage.”

[Anchorage changed how it counts its homeless population during the pandemic. The number doubled.]

Dummler did not show emotion during Monday’s hearing. District Court Judge J. Patrick Hanley set his bail at $250,000 cash and said he would need a third-party custodian and would be subject to electronic monitoring if released on bail.

Dummler is a military veteran with no previous criminal history, his attorney John Cashion said during the hearing. Cashion said he still needed to review the evidence in the case. His client did not speak to police after he was arrested but otherwise cooperated in every way, he said.

Dummler was born in Soldotna and graduated from high school in the Alaska Peninsula community of Pedro Bay, according to Cashion. He served for four years with an airborne infantry division of the U.S. Army, the attorney said.

Dummler deployed to Afghanistan in 2012 and returned to Alaska in 2015 and was honorably discharged that year, Cashion said. He works in property management and also was an assistant manager at Burger King, he said.

Police have not said what may have motivated Dummler to shoot Martin, or confirmed if the men knew each other.

Dummler was seen on surveillance footage walking up to Martin around 5 a.m. Thursday and pulling something off him, according to a criminal complaint written by an Anchorage Police Department detective. Dummler pointed a dark object in his left hand at Martin, who “put his arm up and turned his head away” before falling back down, according to the complaint.

Dummler ran from the area and police used traffic cameras to track him to the Burger King on East Dimond, the complaint said. He was taken into custody from the fast food restaurant later that day, it said.

Dummler told police he had “an item of self-defense” in his backpack, but otherwise declined to speak with detectives, according to the complaint.

Martin made headlines in 2018 when he sailed from Alaska to Russia in an 8-foot dinghy. He was also known for camping on the sidewalk outside Anchorage City Hall for months in 2011 and digging out a hidden campsite near the Chester Creek trail in 2013.

Family members on Friday described Martin as an inventive man who often gave food and clothing to other homeless people.

On Monday, the state requested bail set at $500,000. Dummler’s attorney requested $50,000.

Hanley, in setting the amount at $250,000, said he was “concerned about the allegations” that the attack was unprovoked, while also acknowledging it was early in the case.

“Mr. Cashion will obviously be able to review the discovery and see if there’s anything else or any other explanation, but what the video apparently shows is an unprovoked attack and I am concerned about the safety of people in the community,” the judge said.