Anchorage man charged in November’s U-Med shooting

A 21-year-old Anchorage man has been charged with felony assault connected to a shooting last month in the U-Med district that left a man wounded, a seemingly random crime in a busy pedestrian area.

Alex Manley is facing charges associated with the shooting near the University Lake Park trail system including first-degree assault, several counts of third-degree assault, and weapons misconduct, according to a criminal complaint filed in Anchorage District Court on Thursday.

A witness in a group outside Alaska Native Medical Center patient housing the night of Nov. 25 said someone first called for help and then opened fire when one man approached to investigate. The man was treated for a non-fatal gunshot wound, police said.

No one was immediately arrested as Anchorage police increased patrols in the area in an effort to locate the suspect and warned people on foot to take precautions.

As of Thursday afternoon, Manley remained in custody at the Anchorage jail, where he was first held earlier this month on an unrelated case.

Anchorage police Chief Sean Case, in a video shared by the department, called the shooting “a rare, random act of violence” that involved four victims.

A “dedicated and thorough” investigation by detectives connected Manley to the Nov. 25 incident, Case said.

A sworn affidavit filed with the complaint provides little sense of a motive.

Along with the three men near ANMC housing, another man walking his dog on the trail system also reported hearing more than 20 gunshots and ended up with what looked like a bullet defect in his pant leg, according to the affidavit filed by Detective Michael Wisel.

Manley was arrested in mid-December after leaving home on foot after a disturbance there and heading toward the University Lake trails, the affidavit said. Manley, who was carrying a rifle and ammunition, was identified using the ankle monitor he was wearing, it said.

He became combative and fought with officers and was charged with third-degree assault, police said.

He denied any knowledge of the Nov. 25 shooting near the hospital housing, according to the affidavit. Manley also told police his mother bought the semi-automatic rifle for him, the affidavit said.

The rifle he carried was test-fired several days after the arrest, producing a match to the casings found at the scene of the shooting, the affidavit said. Wisel wrote that mapping based on Manley’s cellphone records placed the phone in the area of the University Lake trails and near ANMC at the time of the shooting.

Manley changed his story during an interview with detectives Tuesday at the jail, Wisel wrote. He said “he had been playing video games at his home at which time he became ‘frustrated’ and decided to go for a walk around the lake,” the detective wrote.

He told the detectives he returned home when he heard 15 to 20 gunshots and continued to deny any involvement, the affidavit said.

A family member told police that Manley has threatened to shoot others, the affidavit said.

Officers served an arrest warrant on Manley at the Anchorage jail on Thursday.