A Soldotna-area man was arrested Saturday after allegedly holding a 14-year-old girl against her will, firing shots at two people in a truck and threatening Alaska State Troopers with a shotgun.
Troopers arrested Ethan Brown, 18, of the Kalifornsky Beach Road area, after receiving reports that he would not allow his 14-year-old girlfriend to leave his house. The troopers received a call around 5:41 p.m. Saturday that she was in trouble and multiple troopers responded to the area, according to an affidavit from Trooper Ethan Norwood. Two of the girl’s friends had already gone to the house to try to get her out, he wrote.
Upon arriving in the area, a truck pulled up and two 16-year-old girls got out of the truck and approached troopers with a phone, saying it was the 14-year-old and that Brown would not let her leave.
“As I was listening to the phone I could hear a female voice crying for help,” Norwood wrote. “I could hear what sounded like a physical disturbance in progress. Shortly after that happened the call dropped and (the girl) could not be reached by phone.”
The two 16-year-olds said they had gone to the house and Brown had fired three shots at them with a shotgun. All the shots missed them and the truck, but they were afraid Brown would shoot them, Norwood wrote.
Altogether, six troopers went to the house, according to the affidavit.
“Upon my approach I could hear a female voice screaming and crying, along with other banging noises consistent with a physical disturbance in progress,” Norwood wrote.
Norwood wrote that he and another trooper were about to go inside when they heard other troopers say, “Drop the gun.” They turned around and Brown was standing in the driveway with a shotgun, with all the troopers within 50 feet.
The girl was able to escape, while the troopers told Brown to drop the gun. After initially hesitating, he did put the gun down, and the troopers placed him in custody. All the troopers agreed that Brown was a deadly threat and were afraid he would shoot them, Norwood wrote.
Brown told Norwood that he and the girl got into an argument and were not allowed to date. They had both been drinking since a party earlier that day, and he fired at the truck in the driveway because they were trespassing, according to the affidavit.
Later, when troopers administered a breathalyzer test, Brown showed a blood alcohol content of .185 percent, according to the affidavit.
He was arraigned in Kenai on Sunday on one charge of kidnapping in the first degree, an unclassified felony; nine charges of assault in the third degree, all class C felonies; one charge of misconduct involving weapons in the fourth degree, a class A misdemeanor; one charge of reckless endangerment, a class A misdemeanor; and one charge of minor operating a vehicle after consuming alcohol, a violation because it was his first offense, according to CourtView.
Brown also drew public attention in January when he used his Twitter account to make racist remarks, resulting in his suspension from the Soldotna High School hockey team.
Reach Elizabeth Earl at elizabeth.earl@peninsulaclarion.com.
