Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Bethel, AK: Troopers: Chevak shooting a murder-suicid

Troopers believe a shooting that led to two deaths in a Southwest Alaska village was a murder-suicide.

A third person was also shot in the Chevak incident. As of this weekend, Theresa Ayalkun, 28, was in stable condition at the Alaska Native Medical Center, said Beth Ipsen, a spokeswoman for the Alaska State Troopers.

"It is our belief that Amy Moses shot Thomas Moses and Theresa Chayalkun, 28, of Chevak, before turning the gun on herself and killing herself," said Ipsen in an emailed statement.

Amy, 32, and Thomas Moses, 37 estranged husband and wife, were drinking with Ayalkun before the shooting, Ipsen said.

Ipsen did not know the extent of the drinking or Ayalkun's wounds.

She also did not know Ayalkun's relationship to the Moses'.

Children were in the house, including teens, but they didn't witness the shooting, Ipsen said.

A trooper and a U.S. marshal were in the village as part of an unusual law enforcement effort in the Bethel region to find noncompliant sex offenders, those with warrants for their arrest and to do probation checks.
By ALEX DEMARBAN

The officers were staying at the school and received a call about the shooting Saturday at 5 a.m. and responded.

The house where the shots were fired, which belonged to Thomas Moses, was not on the check list. It was a coincidence that the trooper and the marshal happened to be in the village during the tragedy, Ipsen said.

The death investigation is being wrapped up and an in-house report will be published some time in the future.

Ipsen would not say how many shots were fired, or what kind of gun was used.

The village of 1,000 northwest of Bethel has been hit hard by the two deaths and others.

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