Update 10:15 a.m. Tuesday (Feb. 27):
A teenage boy has been charged with killing two adults and wounding two others during a shooting Sunday night in Point Hope.
Court records show Guy Nashookpuk, 16, is charged with two first-degree counts each of murder and attempted murder in Sunday’s shooting.
According to a charging document filed Monday against Nashookpuk, borough police responded just after 11:30 p.m. Sunday to the shooting at an Agvik Street residence. Officers found four gunshot victims: a dead man and woman, along with two severely wounded men.
“One witness told police that she saw Nashookpuk enter the residence bearing a handgun and start shooting,” prosecutors wrote in the charging document. “Other witnesses told police they saw Nashookpuk armed with a handgun flee the scene on a four-wheeler.”
The document did not mention what relationship Nashookpuk had with the victims, if any, or any motive for the shooting.
About 10 minutes later, prosecutors said Nashookpuk’s father brought him to the Point Hope police station, saying he had confessed to the shooting. The charging document says that officers read Nashookpuk his Miranda rights, before an interview with his parents present in which he allegedly told police he had shot all four adults.
Original story:
North Slope Borough officials said that multiple people were killed on Feb. 25 in a shooting in Point Hope, with an unnamed suspect held in the incident.
A statement from North Slope Borough Mayor Josiah Patkotak’s office said that the incident took place in the community of about 840 people, roughly 330 miles southwest of Utqiaġvik. Borough officials said that the shooting occurred at a local residence.
“The matter is still under investigation, but we want to assure the public that there is no ongoing risk to community safety,” Patkotak wrote. “This was an isolated incident and the suspect is currently in custody.”
The statement does not include additional details about the incident, including how many people were killed and injured or where it happened.
Alaska State Troopers spokesman Tim DeSpain said that the North Slope Borough Police Department was handling the case.
Patkotak said that the local Tikiġaq School was closed on Feb. 26, with no word on when it might reopen.
Patkotak offered his sympathies to victims and families, saying that the borough has organized grief counseling services with the North Slope Health Department and the Maniilaq Association.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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