Charges: Assault, weapons misconduct

WASILLA — A man allegedly pointed a gun at police during an incident at a church Monday that also locked down Burchell High School.

Troopers arrested Christopher Fritzler, 19, a student at Pathways School, and charged him with second-degree weapons misconduct and two counts of third-degree assault, according to an Alaska State Troopers press release. Authorities had dismissed the weapons charge Thursday afternoon.

According to the release, Fritzler had a .22-caliber rifle with 21 loaded bullets in his possession when he was arrested in the parking lot of the Wasilla Bible Church Oct. 13. No injuries were reported in the incident, authorities said.

The church is located on a hill across the street from the back of the school.

Trooper spokeswoman Megan Peters said no threats made against anyone at the school or church.

The assault charges were brought because at some point during the incident, Fritzler allegedly pointed the gun at two responding officers, Peters said.

The incident started as a welfare check at a residence on Avalon Circle about 10:30 a.m., after Fritzler was reported to be contemplating suicide and didn’t show up at school, according to a sworn affidavit written by Alaska State Trooper Jason Crockett. Troopers were unable to immediately locate Fritzler or contact his mother, Crockett wrote.

“I continued on my day and responded to other calls for service,” Crockett wrote.

About 2 p.m., Crockett and Wasilla Police Department officers responded to a silent alarm at Burchell High School. Officials had placed the school on lockdown, and Wasilla Police officers had Fritzler at gun point, and had placed spike strips in front of and behind Fritzler’s blue Ford Avalon.

A tense moment ensued, according to the affidavit.

“Fritzler was making furtive movements inside the car and reached numerous times into the back seat area of the car,” Crockett wrote.

When a Wasilla police officer approached the car with a device officers use to shatter car windows, Fritzler pulled a semi-automatic rifle out of the back of the car, so officers shot him with a Taser and grabbed the gun, Crockett wrote.

Authorities transported Fritzler to a local hospital for treatment of his stun gun injuries, and then to Mat-Su Pretrial on a $10,000 bond with a third-party custody requirement, according to court documents.

Fritzler’s custody status wasn’t yet listed in the Department of Corrections database Thursday afternoon.

Contact Brian O’Connor at 352-2269 or brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com.