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Violence escalates as winter wears on
December 16, 1993
Michael Gerhardt
Arctic Sounder
KOTZEBUE — The holiday season in the NANA region has been plagued with a rash of violence, beginning several weeks ago when a Kotzebue man was charged with murdering him mother.
Last week, felony charges were brought against three separate people involved in another shooting, a stabbing incident and a snowmachine accident.
"It just seems to be a continuing wave of violence," Kotzebue District Attorney Max Garner said.
A Kivalina man survived being shot five times last week in an early morning altercation with a Kotzebue man.
A day later, a young Noorvik man was severely injured when another man entered his bedroom in Noorvik in the middle of the night and stabbed him eleven times with a knife.
Rocky Hawley of Kivalina was shot Dec. 8 at around 3 a.m. in front of House No. 147 on Lagoon Street in Kotzebue, according to Garner.
Police arrested Samuel R. Smith, 28, of Kotzebue, without incident soon after the shooting, according to Garner.
When police found Hawley, Smith walked up and told an officer he had shot Hawley and then gave the officer a .22-caliber pistol, which he said he used to shoot Hawley, according to a criminal complaint filed against Smith.
Hawley was still at the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage Monday, but is in good condition, according to a relative.
Smith has been charged with first-degree assault and is being held on $25,000 cash-only bail, Garner said.
Smith worked as a radio announcer at KOTZ Radio.
When police and medical personnel were called to the scene, they found Hawley laying behind House No. 147.
Hawley was shot once in each leg, once in his side, once on the back of his shoulder and once to the nose, Garner said.
Hawley, a former Kivalina Village Public Safety Officer, apparently ran behind the house after being shot, Garner said.
"Everyone believes alcohol was involved at this point," Garner said the day after the incident. "To what extent, time will tell."
Garner wouldn't say whether police had found witnesses to the incident.
The stabbing incident in Noorvik left Leo Ferreira III badly injured after fellow Noorvik resident Willie R. Ballot, 21, attacked Ferreira in his bedroom.
Using a five-inch folding knife, Ballot stabbed Ferreira nine times on the back and once on each arm, according to the criminal complaint filed against Ballot.
While Noorvik Village Public Safety Officer Horace Field was giving Ferreira first-aid at his house, Ballot came out of a back bedroom and said, "he deserved it," according to the complaint.
Ferreira was flown first to the Maniilaq Medical Center in Kotzebue and then on to the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage, according to Garner.
Ballot was arrested after the incident by VPSO Field, and has been charged with first-degree assault.
Garner said law enforcement officials are still trying to piece together why the assault occurred. Alcohol was involved, he said.
In Selawik, on the same day as the Noorvik incident, Clifton N. Harrison, 32, was arrested and charged with third-degree assault for injuring another Selawik man in a snowmachine accident.
Harrison was intoxicated and was driving with his light off when he ran into Mendenhall's snowmachine, pinning Mendenhall's leg under his own snowmachine, according to the criminal complaint against Harrison.
Mendenhall was treated by the Selawik health aide.
