An Oscarville man has been charged with two counts of felony assault and several misdemeanors after Alaska State Troopers said that he shot a woman in his home on March 13.
Forty-two-year-old Michael Fritz John Alex Stevens allegedly fled the scene of the shooting on a snowmachine, according to a trooper dispatch post.
Troopers from Bethel responded to a 911 call about the shooting in Oscarville, about 5 miles south of Bethel on the Kuskokwim River, on the evening of March 13, but could not locate Stevens.
According to a trooper report, family members took the woman injured in the shooting to a Bethel-area hospital. She is expected to survive her injuries.
Troopers requested public assistance in locating Stevens. Trooper spokesperson Austin McDaniel said that they put out the call for assistance to alert nearby communities – Oscarville, Napaskiak, Napakiak, and Bethel – of the potential danger and of trooper response.
“Troopers did receive some tips from different members of the community of Oscarville,” McDaniel said. “There were some sightings of him earlier this morning, so Thursday morning, in Oscarville. And between the Alaska Wildlife Troopers in the air, state troopers on the ground, as well as some other Good Samaritans, community members on the ground in Oscarville, they were able to locate Michael Stevens, his snowmachine had become stuck in the tundra. And troopers were able to arrest him and detain him at that point.”
Stevens was found on the tundra at 10:30 a.m. on March 14.
Troopers said that Stevens is being held at the Yukon Kuskokwim Correctional Center on multiple charges, including first and third-degree assault, weapon misconduct, and reckless endangerment. As of the afternoon of March 14, Stevens had not been scheduled for arraignment.
