AST IDs woman killed in shooting

WASILLA — Alaska State Troopers released further details Monday about two people who died of gunshot wounds early Saturday.

Troopers have identified the woman who was killed as Chelsi Baun of Colorado. Initially, troopers only released the name of a man they say shot Baun before turning the gun on himself — Tobias Siegel, 26, of Wasilla.

Trooper spokesman Tim DeSpain said investigators are still working the case, but know that there were four people at the home on Serrano Drive when the shooting occurred.

“The four of them had been drinking or partying at a bar and then went from the bar to Siegel’s residence,” DeSpain said.

DeSpain said the group consisted of Siegel and Baun, another man and another woman. It appears the men got into a fight.

Asked if the fight was serious, DeSpain said, “I think so. There was definitely evidence, physical evidence on them as well as a broken table, things like that.”

The fight ended before the shooting, he said.

“And the one male decided he didn’t want to fight anymore and so he left the residence and went outside, and then he looked back in the window and he saw Siegel come out of the room with a handgun,” DeSpain said. “At that point he assumed he was coming after him because they had been fighting, so he proceeded to leave the property and then he heard gunshots in the residence.”

DeSpain said the man who had been leaving turned to look back inside.

“He saw Baun and Siegel on the floor,” the spokesman said.

DeSpain said troopers were summonsed in short order, arriving on scene at 1:48 a.m.

Serrano Drive runs from just north of the Parks Highway behind a pair of blue strip-mall-type buildings on the highway’s north side to just south of the Palmer-Wasilla Highway. The home where the shooting occurred was on the southerly end.

DeSpain said there are still a lot of unanswered questions.

“I think one of the main questions that would be nice to have an answer to was what started the initial argument? And then the other thing is did he intend to shoot Baun or not?” DeSpain said.

Though they were drinking that night, there are witnesses who can attest to what the fight was about. But with Siegel dead, though, it will be difficult to get an answer to that second question, DeSpain said.

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