Squabble over ptarmigan hunting ends in gunfire

JOHN DAVIDSON/Frontiersman reporter

HOUSTON -- An argument over the use of slingshots for hunting ptarmigan ended with shotgun blasts Sunday night, sending two men to the hospital and one to jail, Alaska State Troopers reported Monday.

Joseph Walter Leroy Sheldon, 19, was arguing about the matter with three other men at his residence on Pickadilley Street off Miller's Reach Road.

The men were drinking and watching TV at the time, troopers said, when Sheldon allegedly left the house, got a 12-gauge shotgun out of his pickup truck and fired into the home multiple times.

Shotgun pellets hit Darin Hotrum, 38, in the back of his head and upper torso; he fled by jumping out a window in the rear of the house, in which he also resides.

Hotrum ran to a nearby residence where a 911 call was placed.

Wasilla resident Robert Cross, 51, was also struck in the face with multiple shotgun pellets and remained at the home until troopers arrived.

Sheldon left the area on foot, hitching a ride from a passing motorist to the Big Lake Alaska State Troopers post, where he used the phone outside the building to call 911.

The shotgun was on the ground at Sheldon's feet when troopers arrived, and he was arrested without incident.

Hotrum and Cross were taken to Valley Hospital by ambulance and later transferred to Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage.

Sheldon was arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree attempted murder and two counts of first-degree assault.

An investigation by the Alaska Bureau of Investigation in Palmer is continuing. Sheldon's arraignment is set for 11 a.m. Monday; he is being held at Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility.

Contact John Davidson at john.davidson@frontiersman.com.