Charging documents reveal jealousy may have played a role in the fatal shooting of assistant district attorney Brian Sullivan, who was allegedly killed by 47-year-old Ronald “Bun Bun” Fischer — a felon with more than 21 convictions.
Sullivan, 48, had been working in Barrow since the spring of 2012. A sworn affidavit signed by Lt. Travis Welch with the North Slope Borough Police Department says he was unarmed and sitting on a couch when he was shot twice in the face with a shotgun in a home Monday night. Fischer was later arrested and charged with first-degree murder.
“His body was found with his feet crossed on the floor in front of him as he sat — suggesting that Sullivan made no attempt to confront, disarm his murderer — or to flee,” Welch wrote. “In other words, Fischer shot a man who was seated, unarmed, and who posed no threat.”
Security video from the AC Value Center across the street from the shooting scene shows Fischer entered the home of 37-year-old Mabel Kaleak carrying a shotgun just before the fatal shots were fired. The footage also shows Fischer left that residence moments later, with the firearm, “in a struggle” with Kaleak — who he was not supposed to have contact with as part of overlapping release orders in several pending cases. Fischer was also supposed to stay more than 100 feet away from Kaleak’s home.
Kaleak, who has children with Fischer, told investigators that she and Sullivan had started “‘talking’ — implying a personal relationship — on November 21, 2014,” the affidavit says.
Sullivan was planning to take her on a trip to Hawaii so they could “get some sun,” Kaleak told authorities. She also said she had told Fischer that she was dating Sullivan.
“She said that she was under the impression that Fischer was comfortable with that, because she and Fischer were ‘working together’ and being civil for the children,” the affidavit says.
The night of the shooting
Monday evening, Kaleak met Sullivan at Barrow High School, where they had been working out for about a week, she told authorities. As they were doing laps around the track, they encountered Fischer, who “looked upset, and didn’t say anything,” the affidavit says. She asked him if he was all right, but he didn’t respond. Later, when Kaleak walked downstairs, she saw Fischer walk near Sullivan, who was lifting weights, and “just [glared] at him.”
After working out, Sullivan and Kaleak went to her home to eat dinner and watch a movie. She had just showered and was getting dressed in a bedroom when she said she heard a door shut and heard Fischer say, “Who are you…?” Then, she heard a gunshot, Welch wrote.
Scared, Kaleak said she hid in her bedroom closet because she was afraid Fischer would shoot her. Fischer walked into the bedroom holding a shotgun and a jacket and found the 37-year-old.
“She explained that she lunged at [Fischer] and held onto him tight — to keep the gun compressed between them so he could not point it and shoot,” Welch wrote.
Wanting to get close to a door so she could run, Kaleak kept holding onto Fischer as they walked out of the bedroom, she told authorities. As they approached the living room area, she said she could smell gunpowder and “didn’t want to look for [Sullivan] because she didn’t want to see him,” the affidavit says.
“At this point, Fischer said, ‘Look at what you made me do… ” Welch wrote.
Once outside, Kaleak said she hopped in Sullivan’s running Ford Bronco and rushed to the police station.
“At 9:58 p.m., [Kaleak] entered the lobby area of the North Slope Borough Police Department — a distance of a little more than a mile from her house,” Welch wrote. “She was hysterical, barefoot and wore no jacket. She immediately reported that [Sullivan] had been shot.”
Police secured Kaleak’s house by 10:02 p.m. They discovered a shotgun wadding cap inside Sullivan’s mouth and two shotgun shells on the kitchen floor.
“In other words, the location of the hulls was consistent with having been ejected from a right-handed shotgun as one faced [Sullivan],” the affidavit says.
At 10:08 p.m., a police dispatcher received a phone call from a man, identified as Fischer, who was “crying and distraught,” Welch wrote. Hours later, he told a dispatcher his location — the north end of the old Barrow military runway — and said he wanted to surrender. He was taken into custody roughly two hours after the shooting.
Police obtained a search warrant for Fischer’s truck and located a loaded shotgun and a garment that authorities believe was used to conceal the weapon. In an interview with Welch, Fischer said that Kaleak had told him she was not “seeing anyone,” the lieutenant wrote, and that the very idea “broke his heart.”
Criminal past
Fischer has more than 20 criminal convictions, including disorderly conduct, harassment, assault, driving while intoxicated and felony criminal mischief. On Sept. 21, he was arrested for punching Kaleak in the face in a home in Barrow. Sgt. James Michels responded, who reported Fischer said he would fight him after the officer tried to question him, a police report says.
The sergeant drew his Taser, but Fischer “picked up his six-year-old daughter to use as a shield to prevent [the officer] from tasing him,” according to the report. During the course of Fischer’s arrest, he threatened Michels “over twenty times.”
“I am used to being threatened and have been before,” Michels wrote in a report recounted in Welch’s affidavit. “However, based on [Fischer's] articulation, state of mind, and persistence, I believe his threats to be true …”
On Nov. 29, Kaleak called police and said Fischer was harassing her. Kaleak told police that Fischer was at her residence when she got home and that he “yelled and cursed at her before leaving,” a police report says. Police then talked to Fischer, who said he was upset because she “had arrived at the residence late with Brian Sullivan.”
Police talked to Sullivan over the phone, who said Fischer had been texting Kaleak during dinner. Kaleak told him that Fischer texted that he had been following Kaleak, found her car and slashed her tires. Sullivan also noted that he had removed himself as the prosecutor from Fischer’s cases — “presumably because of his friendship with [Kaleak],” the report says.
“Tragically, [Kaleak] said that on a date — sometime after November 21, [Sullivan] made a comment and asked, if he needed to be concerned about Fischer ‘spraying bullets through the house’ because he (Brian) was there,” Welch wrote. “Kaleak told police that she responded, ‘he hasn’t done that before…’”
–This is a developing story.