Shooter claims self-defense

TALKEETNA — Documents filed in court against a man charged with murder for a Friday night barroom shooting show the man apparently is claiming self-defense.

Samuel E. Clark, 40, of Talkeetna, was jailed shortly after the shooting, which Alaska State Troopers report happened sometime after 9 p.m. at Latitude 62, a downtown bar and restaurant, and killed Dirk Fast, 53, of Talkeetna.

Clark, upon his arrest, told troopers that he and Fast had been sitting together at a table. Clark was telling Fast about trying to move to Missouri to find work, but he was having trouble getting across the Canadian border due to a previous drunken driving charge.

“Clark indicated that during the conversation, Fast began ‘getting fidgety’ and pulled his cell phone out of his picket, rubbed his leg and raised his shirt up. Clark indicated he thought that Fast was attempting to pull a weapon,” trooper Tony Wegrzyn wrote in an affidavit filed in the case against Clark.

He said Clark admitted to pulling his gun and shooting Fast.

“Clark further indicated that he meant to shoot Fast and that he intended to kill him,” Wegrzyn wrote.

But that account does not square with that troopers got from bartender Ruby Fortner.

“Fortner stated that Clark came into the bar, ordered an iced tea and sat at the table near the end of the bar. Shortly thereafter, Fortner observed Fast get up from his seat at the bar, walk over to Clark and engage Clark in what she described as a ‘friendly conversation.’ After approximately 15 minutes she heard a gunshot,” the affidavit says.

Fortner told troopers that, as he left the bar, Clark said something about how Fast had “killed his family.”

Talkeetna medics pronounced Fast dead at 9:30 p.m.

Bar patrons told troopers what kind of vehicle Clark left in. Around 15 minutes after the shooting was reported, troopers Terrence Shanigan and Dan Valentine spotted the vehicle at the same time at Mile 7 Talkeetna Spur Road. The troopers conducted simultaneous traffic stops.

Wegrzyn wrote that at the time of his arrest Clark was wearing a shoulder holster, with no pistol, but two magazines inside. The pistol and a rifle were inside his vehicle. Clark was jailed on a single charge of first-degree murder at the Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility. His bail was set at $500,000. Jail records Monday afternoon showed he was still there.

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