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Assisted Living Home Where Shooting Took Place RespondsAn Anchorage man has been charged with first-degree attempted murder after Anchorage Police say he shot a woman multiple times in the head. He's being held at the Anchorage Jail on $500,000 bail.Related Content
An Anchorage woman is still in critical condition at a local hospital as she recovers from three gunshot wounds to the head and neck, according to Anchorage Police.
Police say Michael McEvoy, 21, shot Mozelle Nalan, 19, on Thursday around 6 p.m. at the Soteria House assisted living home, which houses people who suffer from mental illnesses. The house is located in Spenard. McEvoy is charged with attempted first-degree-murder, first-degree assault, and two counts of third-degree assault. According to charging documents, both McEvoy and Nalan lived in the house at one point during treatment, and their relationship was cordial. Investigators say they are still trying to figure what his motive was. The Soteria House opened in September of 2009, and is funded by the Alaska Mental Health Trust. It’s an alternative to a psychiatric hospital for adults 18 and over who are diagnosed with a mental illness. It’s the first facility of its kind in Alaska, and is different than traditional treatment, as patients are given the option of taking medications but are not required to be medicated. They also focus on natural healing treatments, which include Yoga and meditation. Dr. Aron Wolf, a psychiatrist with the Soteria House, says McEvoy had never shown any signs of violence while he was a resident at the home. He had been discharged for almost four months, but visited the home frequently. “We have two staff on at all times 24/7, we have volunteers in addition to staff… we're well staffed and there is a structure,” he said. Officials from the Soteria House say they had no clue as to how the man was able to get the .45 caliber handgun and a 9 mm handgun he brought that night. “This was kind of an anomaly, it’s just an anomaly,” said Susan Musante, program manager with the Soteria House. Nalan, the victim, had been discharged from the home four weeks ago and was working toward becoming a volunteer. The program encourages people who graduate from the program to come back and visit other patients for support. Neighbors around the house say they’ve been dealing with the disturbances coming from the house since it opened. “There have been loud noises, wee hours of the night, some people have been walking around at five, six, in the morning… screaming,” said Dasha Estalilla, a nearby neighbor. But officials say they have been aware of the concerns, and are taking them seriously, but have no plans to close the facility. |
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anomaly said on Saturday, Jul 2 at 10:59 AM
More than one anomaly becomes a pattern. Crime is out of control.
70062928anchscanner said on Saturday, Jul 2 at 10:02 PM
If you want to know of big crimes in anchorage as they are happening, check out the apdscanner.com web page and join the twitter page, get alerts sent to your phone of shootings, stabbings, robberies, assaults... for free!!
70083404Surprised? said on Tuesday, Jul 5 at 7:18 AM
The US congress wanted to close Psychiatric facilities so they could have more money to spend.... this was in 1974... it was decided that community based housing and treatment would replace proper care in a clean well managed facilities with group homes like Soteria House.... as soon as they started moving folks out of API ... the jails took up the slack.... Those who made this decision should be put up against a wall and shot.... but ohhhhhh no .. they are too busy committing public service
70173432dear surprised said on Wednesday, Nov 14 at 3:22 PM
considering that there is only two soteria houses in the entire world I don't think congress was really looking to replace psychiatric institutes (which themselves have many issues) with group homes. Sure theres a few, but not nearly enough, and most focus on keeping people out of societies way instead of on recovery. COngress really just turned people out onto the street, they didn't help set up places like Soteria.
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