1 arrested, 1 sought in car, home shooting

WASILLA — Alaska State Troopers investigating a home and vehicle blasted with shotguns in the Williwaw subdivision have arrested one alleged shooter and are seeking a second.

AST spokeswoman Megan Peters said three people were in the home when two men showed up at about 4:15 a.m. July 27 and started blasting. Nobody was hurt.

Investigator Michelyn Griegg, the case officer for the shooting, said the home’s residents called 911 as the shooting occurred. Patrol troopers and a Wasilla police officer were in the area and arrived in minutes. Then they called Griegg.

Griegg said a mixture of birdshot, buckshot and shotgun slugs were used in the shooting. The shots appear to have been aimed mostly at the vehicle.

Not 40 minutes after the incident, troopers seeking Wasilla resident Billy John, 22 for his alleged involvement in the shooting found him on Little Susitna Drive. John ended up being arrested for drunken driving.

A Palmer grand jury has charged John and a second man, Jack Daniel Hobbs, 23, of Wasilla, with three counts each of assault and one count each of weapons misconduct and criminal mischief.

Court records show that along with the grand jury charges troopers obtained an arrest warrant for Hobbs. Griegg said that as of Thursday, authorities were still looking for Hobbs. She said they have no reason, so far, to suspect anyone other than Hobbs or John were involved in the shooting.

The incident started with an argument over a vehicle the shooters believed the home’s occupants had damaged, Griegg said. The vehicle had been parked on the side of the road for sale.

“They never reported it and even in the course of the investigation they never said, ‘Well, we want to report this,’” Griegg said.

Peters said projectiles entered the vehicle parked in the home’s driveway and the home itself.

Griegg said she’s unsure exactly how close any of the rounds came to hitting the home’s occupants. Also unclear as of Thursday is exactly where the shooters were aiming.

“One or two [shots] may have been fired at the residence, but we’re still unsure,” Grieg said. “Some may have been hit the vehicle and then bounced and hit the home.”

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.