A 14-year-old is in custody after a shooting near the University Area Sunday evening – Anchorage’s first homicide of 2015, police say.
According to witnesses, the victim, 18-year-old Charles Gustav Steinhilpert III, and the 14-year-old suspect planned to meet at a Walgreens, located at the intersection of Lake Otis Parkway and Tudor Road, for a drug deal, according to a statement from Anchorage Police Department spokeswoman Anita Shell.
“During the transaction, the suspect and the victim got into an altercation that ended when the suspect produced a gun and fired it once, striking the victim who was sitting in the vehicle,” Shell wrote.
Friends drove Steinhilpert to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead shortly after the shooting.
The suspect, who turned himself in, will be referred to the Division of Juvenile Justice for potential delinquency proceedings, Shell said.
Due to the seriousness of the crime and because the suspect is under 16 years of age, state prosecutors are working with the state’s Division of Juvenile Justice to determine if the youth will be charged as a minor or as an adult.
“We also look at the strength of the case,” said Deputy District Attorney Clint Campion, who adds that it will ultimately be up to a judge to decide.
The judge has to consider different factors, Campion says, including the seriousness of the offense, the juvenile’s prior offenses and whether the suspect has had treatment opportunities before, among others.
The consequences are much different if a person is tried through the Juvenile Justice system.
“So there could be some supervision, there could be some detention, but it’s typically done within the juvenile delinquency system,” Campion said. “And the focus is primary on rehabilitation and making that minor, at least giving the minor, the opportunity to be a productive member of society and someone who is law-abiding.”
Campion says the decision is likely to take more than a few days.
–Editor’s note: Police erroneously said the victim was 16 years old in an earlier release. The story has been updated.
–This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.