The Southwest Alaska community of Mountain Village was placed under lockdown for five hours following an assault/shots fired incident in that community reported at 11 PM on Tuesday. Troopers from St. Mary’s responded to the scene to investigate that incident, when just hours later, another unrelated incident unfolded, troopers reported.

In the first case, initially investigated by troopers, they found that a man in that village had assaulted his girlfriend and was firing shots from his residence, causing a lockdown. The report says that 32-year-old Jason Johnson had assaulted his 20-year-old girlfriend multiple times, causing injuries and putting her in fear of being shot.

Subsequent to the investigation Johnson was arrested and charged with one count of Assault III and three counts of Assault IV. He was housed at the mountain village jail to await transfer to Yukon Kuskokwim Correctional Center.

Four and half hours later, while troopers were still in the community dealing with the first incident, a vehicle theft in progress was reported. According to the report at the scene, two individuals jumped onto a four wheeler not belonging to them, started it up and took off. The owner of the four wheeler jumped on the snowmachine and was able to catch up to the absconding duo, and kicked one rider, knocking him from the bike. But, the suspect was able to get back on the ATV, and the two fled the village.

AST was able to follow the vehicle’s tracks in the snow, that led them 18 miles to the rural community of Pitka’s Point. The ATV was found abandoned at the villages sewage lagoon. Troopers tracked the suspects an additional half-mile to a residence in the village.[xyz-ihs snippet=”adsense-body-ad”]Troopers contacted the two suspects inside the residence, and they were identified as Steven Anthony Deveroux-age 29 of Anchorage, and S.M.-age 16 of Pitka’s point. With the evidence gathered, troopers would determine that the two suspects had taken the four wheeler.

As the investigation continued, troopers would find that Devereaux was in possession of a loaded handgun. Devereaux was found to be a convicted felon, and could not lawfully possess firearms. As a result Devereaux was arrested and charged with one count of Misconduct Involving Weapons III, as well as Vehicle Theft II. the other suspect, only identified as S.M., was released to his parents, with charges forwarded to Juvenile Justice for prosecution.

Johnson, jailed in the initial case, and Devereaux, were both transported to Bethel, and remanded to YKCC. Johnson’s bail was set at $5000 plus a court-approved third-party custodian, while Devereaux’s bail was set at $1000 and a court-approved third-party custodian.

  assault, atv, bethel, convicted felon, firearms, Jason Johnson, mountain village, shooting, st marys, Steven Devereaux, theft