spacemanspiff
Senior Member
http://www.adn.com/alaska/story/4859493p-4795995c.html
Two young men were jailed and another was hospitalized with a skull fracture after a $95 drug deal on the Hillside turned into a violent robbery and fight early Sunday involving guns, a shovel and an elephant statue.
According to charges filed in court Monday, the fight spilled over into a nearby house, where the two tangling men burst through the locked front door and awoke the family inside. The pair was ultimately driven from the home at the point of a rifle.
In the end, two men -- Clay Emmett Millhouse, 18, and Lance Edward Williams, 19 -- were arrested on robbery and assault charges.
Events began when Ariel Patrick, 19, struck out to buy some psychedelic mushrooms, according to Patrick and to charging documents. Patrick and his girlfriend, Tara Coleman, picked up Millhouse and Williams, who claimed they could get the drugs.
Shortly before 2 a.m., the four piled into Patrick's pickup, with Patrick at the wheel. Millhouse directed him to a cul-de-sac on Tree Line Court, a remote street off O'Malley Road with a few large homes and several undeveloped lots.
Patrick parked and pulled $95 out of his sock. "Right as I turned my truck off, they reached over and pulled the keys out of the ignition and pulled the gun on me," Patrick said in an interview Tuesday from Providence Alaska Medical Center.
Coleman told police that while Williams pointed the handgun at her and Patrick, Millhouse took the money and said: "This is you being jacked."
Charges say Millhouse then took the gun, pointed it in the air and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened.
"Patrick apparently seized this opportunity to attack Millhouse," charges say.
A fight ensued, which spilled outside the pickup to the street. Patrick was hit in the front of the head with the gun, which fractured his skull, charges say, but continued to fight the two men. Coleman grabbed a shovel and started banging on her boyfriend's foes. She told police she knew one of them had recently been shot, so she tried to hit him there.
"She was really scared," Patrick recalled Tuesday. "I was really surprised by how, when things came to their worst, she was there and ready to help me."
Millhouse fled to a nearby house with Patrick in pursuit. The two men, still fighting, burst through the home's locked front door. The boom woke everyone inside -- a widow, Amy, who asked that her last name not be used, and her kids.
Amy, who was upstairs with most of her family, said there is very little crime in her neighborhood and that the experience was frightening. But it was clear from the start that the two men were fighting, she said. Banging around inside the house, they broke doors, busted drywall, bled on the carpet.
"I am still perplexed as to why they came in," said Amy. Her oldest son, Nate, 21, screamed at the intruders to leave and tried to break up the fight while his mother called police.
Patrick had the upper hand in the scrap, Nate said. "(Millhouse) was definitely getting beat," he said.
At one point, Patrick picked up an ebony elephant statue and hit Millhouse, according to Nate and Patrick, who said it was self-defense. The elephant, a memento from when Amy and her late husband lived in the Middle East, lost an ear.
Nate threatened the men with an unloaded gun. They finally left the house.
"My oldest son did his very best to get them out of the house," Amy said. "That was his one goal."
Williams and Millhouse were gone when police arrived. Officers recovered a handgun from a nearby snowbank.
Patrick had a bleeding head wound and while en route to Providence, he had a seizure, charges say. Doctors discovered he had a depressed skull fracture and admitted him to the Intensive Care Unit.
Patrick said Tuesday he expected to be released from the hospital soon.
Police arrested Williams on Monday. The 19-year-old confirmed most of what Patrick and Coleman told police, but claimed it was Millhouse -- not him -- who drew the gun and demanded the money, charges say.
Williams told police that as soon as the gun was pulled out, he exited the truck, according to charging documents. He also said that in the course of the fight, Millhouse pointed the gun at Patrick and pulled the trigger but there was only a "click." Patrick decked Millhouse, knocking him to the ground, and then chased him down the street, Williams said, according to charges.
Millhouse was arrested Tuesday, according to a jail official.
Both men are charged with first-degree robbery, second-degree theft, third-degree assault, all felonies, and fourth-degree assault, a misdemeanor.
Millhouse is also charged with first-degree assault and tampering with physical evidence, both felonies.
The two most serious charges -- the robbery and first-degree assault -- each carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted.
Both men are being held at Anchorage Correctional Complex East. Williams' bail is set at $20,000; Millhouse's at $25,000.
Patrick, who said he has tried drugs recreationally, said he doesn't intend to go into any dark, remote areas with strangers again anytime soon. "Even if you think drugs aren't bad, the people who are trying to sell them are," he said.
Daily News reporter Tataboline Brant can be reached at [email protected] or 257-4321.
Two young men were jailed and another was hospitalized with a skull fracture after a $95 drug deal on the Hillside turned into a violent robbery and fight early Sunday involving guns, a shovel and an elephant statue.
According to charges filed in court Monday, the fight spilled over into a nearby house, where the two tangling men burst through the locked front door and awoke the family inside. The pair was ultimately driven from the home at the point of a rifle.
In the end, two men -- Clay Emmett Millhouse, 18, and Lance Edward Williams, 19 -- were arrested on robbery and assault charges.
Events began when Ariel Patrick, 19, struck out to buy some psychedelic mushrooms, according to Patrick and to charging documents. Patrick and his girlfriend, Tara Coleman, picked up Millhouse and Williams, who claimed they could get the drugs.
Shortly before 2 a.m., the four piled into Patrick's pickup, with Patrick at the wheel. Millhouse directed him to a cul-de-sac on Tree Line Court, a remote street off O'Malley Road with a few large homes and several undeveloped lots.
Patrick parked and pulled $95 out of his sock. "Right as I turned my truck off, they reached over and pulled the keys out of the ignition and pulled the gun on me," Patrick said in an interview Tuesday from Providence Alaska Medical Center.
Coleman told police that while Williams pointed the handgun at her and Patrick, Millhouse took the money and said: "This is you being jacked."
Charges say Millhouse then took the gun, pointed it in the air and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened.
"Patrick apparently seized this opportunity to attack Millhouse," charges say.
A fight ensued, which spilled outside the pickup to the street. Patrick was hit in the front of the head with the gun, which fractured his skull, charges say, but continued to fight the two men. Coleman grabbed a shovel and started banging on her boyfriend's foes. She told police she knew one of them had recently been shot, so she tried to hit him there.
"She was really scared," Patrick recalled Tuesday. "I was really surprised by how, when things came to their worst, she was there and ready to help me."
Millhouse fled to a nearby house with Patrick in pursuit. The two men, still fighting, burst through the home's locked front door. The boom woke everyone inside -- a widow, Amy, who asked that her last name not be used, and her kids.
Amy, who was upstairs with most of her family, said there is very little crime in her neighborhood and that the experience was frightening. But it was clear from the start that the two men were fighting, she said. Banging around inside the house, they broke doors, busted drywall, bled on the carpet.
"I am still perplexed as to why they came in," said Amy. Her oldest son, Nate, 21, screamed at the intruders to leave and tried to break up the fight while his mother called police.
Patrick had the upper hand in the scrap, Nate said. "(Millhouse) was definitely getting beat," he said.
At one point, Patrick picked up an ebony elephant statue and hit Millhouse, according to Nate and Patrick, who said it was self-defense. The elephant, a memento from when Amy and her late husband lived in the Middle East, lost an ear.
Nate threatened the men with an unloaded gun. They finally left the house.
"My oldest son did his very best to get them out of the house," Amy said. "That was his one goal."
Williams and Millhouse were gone when police arrived. Officers recovered a handgun from a nearby snowbank.
Patrick had a bleeding head wound and while en route to Providence, he had a seizure, charges say. Doctors discovered he had a depressed skull fracture and admitted him to the Intensive Care Unit.
Patrick said Tuesday he expected to be released from the hospital soon.
Police arrested Williams on Monday. The 19-year-old confirmed most of what Patrick and Coleman told police, but claimed it was Millhouse -- not him -- who drew the gun and demanded the money, charges say.
Williams told police that as soon as the gun was pulled out, he exited the truck, according to charging documents. He also said that in the course of the fight, Millhouse pointed the gun at Patrick and pulled the trigger but there was only a "click." Patrick decked Millhouse, knocking him to the ground, and then chased him down the street, Williams said, according to charges.
Millhouse was arrested Tuesday, according to a jail official.
Both men are charged with first-degree robbery, second-degree theft, third-degree assault, all felonies, and fourth-degree assault, a misdemeanor.
Millhouse is also charged with first-degree assault and tampering with physical evidence, both felonies.
The two most serious charges -- the robbery and first-degree assault -- each carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted.
Both men are being held at Anchorage Correctional Complex East. Williams' bail is set at $20,000; Millhouse's at $25,000.
Patrick, who said he has tried drugs recreationally, said he doesn't intend to go into any dark, remote areas with strangers again anytime soon. "Even if you think drugs aren't bad, the people who are trying to sell them are," he said.
Daily News reporter Tataboline Brant can be reached at [email protected] or 257-4321.
