Update, 8 a.m. Monday: Anchorage police late Sunday identified the man who died in Saturday’s shooting as 87-year-old Romaine Clark. Procedures for notifying next of kin have been completed, police said in an online update.
Original story:
An Arizona man was charged with murder in connection with a shooting Saturday morning in Anchorage’s Airport Heights neighborhood.
The Anchorage Police Department on Saturday said in an online statement that they were investigating a homicide on the 2800 block of Alder Drive, where officers found a man dead.
Separately, police also said Saturday that they were looking for Mathew Thomas Becker, 61 of Chandler, Arizona, who they described as a “person of interest” considered armed and dangerous. In a Sunday morning update, police said Becker had been located.
Mathew Thomas Becker (Photo provided by Anchorage Police Department)
Online court records indicate that Becker was charged with first-degree murder and third-degree assault in connection to a series of events Saturday. A warrant for his arrest was signed by a judge Saturday.
According to a sworn statement by officer Christopher Quail filed with a criminal complaint, a woman called police just after 9:30 a.m. Saturday reporting that her ex-husband, Becker, had tried to shoot her outside her Midtown business, prompting her to run away and hide until he left.
The woman described Becker’s vehicle as a silver Nissan Altima, Quail wrote in the complaint.
Officers recovered shell casings at the scene, and the woman told police she was concerned for the safety of a family member living with her on Alder Drive, according to the complaint.
Officers responding to the Alder Drive residence found the family member dead inside with apparent gunshot wounds, Quail wrote in the complaint.
Traffic camera footage showed the silver Nissan entering the area around 9:39 a.m. Saturday and leaving a few minutes later, around the time someone called dispatch to report hearing gunshots in the area, Quail wrote.
Police said in their statement Saturday that the identity of the deceased would be released after next-of-kin notification procedures were completed.
At the time the complaint was submitted, efforts to locate Becker were ongoing, Quail wrote.
The police department asked anyone with information about the incident who hasn’t already spoken to them to call dispatch at 311.
[Editor’s note: This story was updated Sunday morning with new information from police indicating Mathew Thomas Becker had been located.]
