Bang, Bang: You’re out of jail

By
Suzanne Downing
-
12

Jessica Malcolm arrived in Anchorage a couple of weeks ago from California to visit her cousins. It didn’t take long for her to get into trouble.

She was arrested Saturday after shots were fired in the parking lot of the Northway Mall in East Anchorage, not far from the entrance of a trampoline and climbing wall gymnasium where parents like to take their children for parties.

It’s unclear if Malcolm had fired any shots, but she has a felony record in California, and on Saturday the 26-year-old, tatted-up, visitor from Los Angeles had a Glock .45 with a 30-round magazine in her waistband.

As a convicted felon in California, where at age 21 she was charged with theft and forgery, she’d just broken the law, according to police. Felony record — no Glocks allowed.

Malcolm was charged Sunday for misconduct involving a weapon. And although she could face up to five years in jail and $50,000 fine, the pretrial assessment determined her to be a “low risk” offender.

She was released. Her pre-indictment hearing is Tuesday.

The new pretrial assessment tool rates offenders on a scale of 1 to 10, and only if they score a 10 are they considered too risky to release before trial.

According to the story she gave to officers, Malcolm came to Alaska to visit family and on social media she met the two men she was with on Saturday. A car pulled up to theirs and began firing at them.

According to the police report:

“The preliminary investigation found that a group of people got into an altercation in the parking lot of the Shockwave Trampoline Parks. At some point during the altercation, the suspects used gunfire to address the issue they were having with each other. Several shots were fired damaging vehicles parked in the area. No one was injured. As officers with the Patrol Division responded to the scene, the suspects fled. Three of the suspects fled in an SUV and crashed near Rodeo Place. They got out and took off running towards Bragaw Street. Officers caught the suspects in a parking lot near the post office. They were taken into custody, arrested and transported to jail.”

Although police had not yet determined if the other car occupants — Tajean Grant-McKay and Ebon Moore — had actually fired their weapons, the two 23-year-olds “bonded out.”

Grant-McKay has prior arrests, including illegal drugs, burglary, theft, and false report. Grant-McKay also had an outstanding warrant for his arrest. Moore had minor brushes with the law, including failure to disclose to an officer that he had a concealed weapon.

Although cars nearby were bullet-riddled as a result of the altercation, no one was hit. Police are still looking for the two suspects they believe were also involved in the shootout in the middle of a Saturday.

12 COMMENTS

    • The judges hands, if non-partisan, are guided by the sentencing statutes. Anyone with any real knowledge of the criminal justice system knows SB 91 is to blame for this.

      I, for one, will have no mercy on the Governor and Legislators that want to say this was a “real learning experience.” What they did to the criminal justice system of Alaska was shameful. They put peoples lives on the line and the bodies have piled up and people in are afraid to go outside.

  2. Bring back the anti- gang task force. Ask the feds for help. Tell Berkie to pull his head out of the sand. Whats it going to take? A shoot out on mid day Saturday in a busy mall by where parents take their kids to play? BERKOWITZ: “And it’s important to make sure that people who are victims by crime or concerned about crime know that I have that sympathy, and that I have that understanding. And I need to make sure that I convey that at all times.” Problem solved. “Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz says officials and the police department are working hard to combat crime.”

  3. It’s not the judges so much as it is our Democratic leadership of our legislature and the liberal legislation that has been produced over the past few years.
    BTW I’ve lived in Alaska for over 50 years. I voted every year and for retention of a very few judges thru those year.
    It is also obvious the miscreants don’t know how to shoot. Maybe its time for moms and dads taking there kids to fin places to protect them. Show these felons how to shoot straight?

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