Teen stabs man, claims self defense

WASILLA — A 30-year-old Wasilla man was stabbed in the chest after an altercation with a group of teenagers at the corner of Polar Bear and Schrock roads Sunday evening.

The wounded man, Justin Lemoine, was transported to Mat-Su Regional Medical Center, where he was treated and released. Josh Kelsey, 18, of Wasilla was questioned by Alaska State Troopers at the scene and released pending further investigation.

Troopers report assault charges have been forwarded to the Palmer District Attorney’s Office, where the case is being reviewed. As of Monday, no arrests had been made, and the District Attorney’s Office said no determination has been made whether to file any charges in the incident.

After being released by troopers, Kelsey admitted to stabbing Lemoine, but said he acted in self defense.

“The dude tried to run me over, so I stabbed him,” Kelsey said, walking back down Schrock toward the home he shares with 21 other people.

Kelsey said he and four other teens were walking down Schrock just after 8 p.m. when Lemoine drove up to them in his pickup truck near the Polar Bear intersection. Kelsey said Lemoine jumped out of the truck and started accusing the teens of burglarizing his home the night before. Kelsey pulled out his cell phone and threatened to call the police, at which point he said Lemoine “ripped the phone out of my hand and busted it in half.”

Lemoine refutes Kelsey’s story and said at no time was the teen in any danger and had no provocation for stabbing him.

“The bottom line is you can’t stab someone,” Lemoine said, adding that “from a victim’s perspective, I hope to see justice served.”

The stabbing victim said he will seek legal action over the incident.

Kelsey’s friend and housemate, 16-year-old Will Emery, backed up his friend’s story.

“He said he’s gonna kill us. He’s like, ‘You guys are dead,’” Emery said.

Lemoine, who was with his 5-year-old daughter at the time, said he never threatened to kill the teens.

“That’s not what I said at all,” he said.

A brief scuffle ensued between Kelsey and Lemoine, during which Kelsey said he pulled out his pocket knife and stabbed Lemoine once in the upper left chest.

“He shoved me and I turned around and stabbed him,” he said.

Bleeding heavily, Lemoine retreated to his pickup truck and drove into the ditch, while Kelsey ran to a nearby house to call police. A passing motorist stopped and assisted Lemoine until paramedics arrived.

“This kid just went off and I didn’t do anything to justify being stabbed,” Lemoine said. “He missed my heart and my lung by just 2mm. He stabbed me right in front of my 5-year-old daughter.”

Troopers took Kelsey into custody, questioning Kelsey and the other teens for over an hour. As he stood waiting for the investigation to unfold, Kelsey looked unconcerned with the proceedings, resting casually on the hood of the police cruiser with his hands cuffed behind his back. He said he was “not really” worried about going to jail and was more annoyed with not being able to swat the mosquitos buzzing around his shaved head.

“I even told the cop, ‘I’m better off sitting in your car,’” he said.

As police combed the scene for evidence and questioned the teens, Lemoine’s wife and young daughter waited anxiously for friends to arrive to accompany them to the hospital. They watched as Lemoine was taken away in an ambulance. Waiting in a nearby minivan, Lemoine’s daughter cried as bystanders tried to console her. Through the driver’s side window of the vehicle, she loudly let her opinion of Kelsey be known.

“He’s not nice! He’s not nice! He’s not nice!” the blond girl repeated over and over.

While walking back to their home, Kelsey and Emery denied they or anyone they know had broken into the Lemoine home, and Kelsey said Lemoine picked the wrong person to accuse of the alleged burglary.

“I got really bad anger issues,” he said.

Contact Matt Tunseth at 352-2265 or matt.tunseth@frontiersman.com.