Police have charged a man with attempted murder for allegedly shooting a man in the face at Nunaka Valley Park earlier this month.
Puipuia Lipoi Alaelua, 31, of Anchorage was also charged with three counts of assault and weapons misconduct. He was arrested last week for an outstanding felony federal warrant for probation violations, according to the Anchorage Police Department, and is in custody at the Anchorage Jail.
On Jan. 13, 30-year-old Joseph Naufahu called authorities for help after he was shot in the jaw at the East Anchorage park, located near the intersection of DeBarr Road and Boniface Parkway. Medics responded, who discovered the bullet was ”still wedged in the victim’s mouth where one of his teeth was now missing,” APD said in a statement.
According to Naufahu, Alaelua — an acquaintance — had agreed to meet him at an area gas station for a drug deal, APD said. At the gas station, Naufahu got into a vehicle with Alaelua and the pair ended up at the park. Once there, Naufahu was asked to get out of the vehicle. After stepping out of the vehicle, “the suspect shot Naufahu once in the face and then fled the park in the vehicle they arrived in,” the APD statement says.