A man who was kicked out of the Eagle River Walmart on Monday on suspicion of shoplifting then fired at a security guard as he drove through the area, according to a police report summary filed in the indictment.
Donovan Dennis, 32, was arrested on felony charges of unlawful conduct with a weapon and third-degree assault, as well as misdemeanor charges of reckless endangerment and failure to stop at the direction of a police officer.
According to police, no one was injured in the incident.
Monday after an employee sent a message about a group of employees attempting to shoplift, according to a summary of a police report prepared by Assistant District Attorney Alice Curci and attached to the charges. I returned to work that night. After reviewing the surveillance footage, the suspects were asked to leave the store, according to the summary.
According to the summary, the group was still in the parking lot when the security guard left the store, but the group followed him as he drove away. Dennis was later identified as the driver, police said.
Police say the trooper called a dispatcher from the parking lot to report a shoplifter just before 10:30 p.m., then continued on the phone as he drove, telling the suspect to “drive through Eagle River.” He reportedly told her that he was being followed.
Minutes later, the trooper said Dennis drove up and fired at him, which a dispatcher heard over the phone.
The trooper pulled into a residential area and turned off the headlights to take cover, according to a police report summary. Neither he nor the passenger in his car were injured, police said.
Police said they spotted Dennis’ truck on Glenn Highway and tried to stop it, but Dennis accelerated instead. Police said the man lost control on the icy road and became stuck in a snowbank, where he was surrounded by police cars and arrested.
The two people in Dennis’ truck have not been charged criminally.
Dennis was being held Thursday morning at the Anchorage Correctional Facility, where he was being held on $5,000 bail and will be required to undergo electronic monitoring upon his release. He is being represented by a public defender. A message to the public defender’s office was not immediately returned Thursday.