ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Two Anchorage men face more than a dozen felony and misdemeanor charges after investigators say they carried out a series of drive-by shootings Sunday afternoon in a Mountain View neighborhood that injured one man and left several others, including children, in fear for their lives.
Michel Santana and Sal Dion Gantt are charged as co-defendants and face 14 charges. The charges include first-degree assault, multiple counts of third-degree assault, weapons misconduct and criminal mischief.
Investigators say the pair discharged a firearm from a moving vehicle during at least two separate shootings that afternoon, sending bullets into occupied homes, a vehicle and through a downtown street.
Two Anchorage men face more than a dozen felony and misdemeanor charges after investigators…
Two Anchorage men face more than a dozen felony and misdemeanor charges after investigators say they carried out a series of drive-by shootings Sunday afternoon in a Mountain View neighborhood that injured one man and left several others, including children, in fear for their lives.(Joe Allgood/Alaska’s News Source)
According to the charging documents, Anchorage police were first dispatched shortly after 3:40 p.m. on Nov. 16 to a residence on North Klevin Street after reports of a drive-by shooting. A family was inside the home at the time, including a seven-year-old boy.
Officers found two bullet holes in the home: one entering through the front door before stopping in a closet, and another that passed through a window and destroyed a fish tank.
Two Anchorage men face more than a dozen felony and misdemeanor charges after investigators…
Two Anchorage men face more than a dozen felony and misdemeanor charges after investigators say they carried out a series of drive-by shootings Sunday afternoon in a Mountain View neighborhood that injured one man and left several others, including children, in fear for their lives.(Joe Allgood/Alaska’s News Source)
All three occupants told police they were scared, including the child, telling police he thought he was going to die. Officers recovered 9mm shell casings from the scene, according to the affidavit.
Witnesses told officers they saw the suspect vehicle flee with three people inside. One of the witnesses heard the shot, and believed it came from a Glock 19.
The family estimated the damage from the shooting at more than $1,200. Five fish in the destroyed tank died.
A second shooting was reported around 4:06 p.m. near Fourth Avenue and Karluk Street. Officers located a man, identified as Edgar Foster, with a gunshot wound to his left thigh. He was transported to the hospital.
Foster told officers he had been walking to the Brother Francis Shelter when a vehicle pulled up with three masked males inside. He said one man exited the vehicle and shot at him twice with an assault style rifle before the vehicle sped away.
A bullet shattered Foster’s femur, and he required immediate surgery. Medical staff provided officers with a bullet fragment removed from his leg.
The other bullet hit a nearby minivan.
Shortly afterwards, officers interviewed a group of four, including a five-year-old child, who said they were driving near Fourth Avenue and Karluk Street when they passed a gray Subaru Impreza. Once they parked off East Fourth Avenue, the rear passenger window was struck by gunfire. Officers recovered shell casings from the scene.
Police later found the suspect vehicle entering the Circle K on Fifth Avenue and boxed it in. Santana was identified as the driver and Gantt as the front passenger.
As officers detained Santana, he reportedly said “it may have been a bad day for him but it was a bad day for someone else.”
Gantt said “he was no snitch,” while being detained by officers.
Inside the vehicle, officers saw multiple beer cans and alcoholic beverages, a Glock 43 pistol with an extended magazine between the front seats, a Glock 19 with a spent shell casing, a Kel-Tec Sub 2000 9mm rifle in the front passenger area with a drum magazine, and a 223/556-caliber rifle on the back seat.
After being read his rights, Santana told officers there had been a third person in the car earlier, though he did not know his name. He said the group had been smoking marijuana at the Fifth Avenue Mall between 3 and 3:30 p.m.
Santana told officers he only knew of two guns in the vehicle; both were 9mm. Detectives asked if shell casings from the scene would match the guns found in the vehicle. Santana said yes.
Gantt told officers he didn’t know anything.
Police say witnesses later confirmed the vehicle matched the one seen fleeing the first shooting.
