Gavin Christiansen, a candidate for Senate Seat F, Wasilla, is in big trouble. On the ballot as a petition Libertarian candidate, he is in custody for murder after a road rage incident on Sunday.
According to Troopers, Christiansen, 38, was involved in a road rage incident involving a firearm. During the call, Christiansen reportedly shot and killed Devin Moorhouse, 35, of Anchorage.
Prior to Christiansen contacting the Troopers, Moorhouse’s vehicle struck Christiansen’s vehicle at a gravel pit off of Willow-Fishhook Road in Willow.
That’s when Christiensen reportedly fired shots at Moorhouse’s vehicle as Moorhouse drove away, with Christiansen in pursuit. The chase went on for five miles, after which Moorhouse wrecked his vehicle in a ditch near milepost 37 of Willow-Fishhook Road, where the final shooting incident took place.
Christiansen was arrested and is in Mat-Su Pretrial, held on Murder in the First and Second Degrees. Moorhouse’s family was notified. During the incident, a child was in the Moorhouse vehicle but was uninjured.
Must Read Alaska has learned that the two men knew each other. The two were recently sparring on Facebook.
Palmer Police have been to Christiansen’s house numerous times on calls relating to domestic disputes. As for Moorhouse, he had been arrested in Juneau in 2012, after a drunk driving spree where he eluded police and finally wrecked his car into a tree.
District F is currently represented by Sen. Shelley Hughes and is one of the more conservative areas of the state.
Guess he’s got some anger issues.
He was my step brother when We were younger. He always had a bit of a temper
Can it. Look at your own back yard before commenting on others. Wouldn’t it be nice if someone aired your dirty laundry. You clearly don’t know him now, so zip it.
That is horrible!! Prayers for the victims. Also, I hope Mr. Christiansen, if indeed he is guilty, has a change of heart in prison.
Well the victim is dead, so not sure prayers are going to help him. Death penalty would be nice though!
Not sure why I have to point this out but, there are more victims than the dead guy… It is devastating to the families of both men.
Good time of the year to roll-up your sidewalk and get into those books you have been collecting.
The fact that Moorhouse was arrested in 2012 for a similar event should play into the courts decision.
There was a good article by KTOO back in 2012 that said: “Moorhouse‘s blood alcohol content was measured at .327 percent, that’s over four times legal limit of .08 for operating a motor vehicle.”
I will be curious to see how this plays out and if Moorhouse’s BAC comes into factor at all with the court’s decision on Christiansen?
I doubt it. If Christiansen makes a self-defense claim (the bit of the ADN story I read before it locked down seems to suggest he will) , the fact that Moorhouse has a history of running away from police will probably not be relevant to his (Christiansen’s) attempt to assert Innocence, and thus probably won’t be allowed to be referenced.
Had he been an Independent, the Democrats would have been interested in his candidacy.
Many people out there are COVID crazy. Be careful.Also don’t ram your car into someone that is armed especially if they have “multiple domestic police calls to their house” If they cant treat family well you better watch out. Cristiansen had a right maybe to shoot in self defense after the car strike. Troopers here “shoot to kill” if you drive at them, chasing him down and shooting again well that will be for the jury to decide.
Remember Monday is clean your AR day….. Tue is you clean your Glock day….and so on….
And Saturday is get them all dirty again day : )
Sounds like his rage got the best of him and his victim. Probably going to be second-degree murder though since he didn’t plan to kill him until the rage kicked in.
But he followed him for 5 miles… and then got out of his car to shoot him. He had a lot of time there to change his mind.
Perhaps or you never know you’re going to kill somebody until you actually do it. Some mental deficiency caused by alcohol drugs rage who knows what kicks in right at the last second.
The fact that he chased him for minutes, and thus miles, makes asserting premeditation (intent) pretty easy. Someone running into your car is a tough call for “serious provocation” and he had plenty of time to calm down during the chase even if he was “in the heat of passion” when it started.
Over at ADN it seems he was on the phone with law enforcement, whatever he said is likely going to make his defense tougher.
To get first degree, you have to show intent . That means planned, conspired and executed. The fact that he was in a blind rage and a road race to track him down doesn’t prove first degree
With this extraordinary reminder that there are fellows like these two around it’s a good time to also remember to dry fire for a few minutes every day. Especially with daylight diminishing now it’s just not possible to shoot as often as we like, but dry firing is convenient and very worthwhile.
Vote for the Valley Executioner! Cleaning up your streets one dirtbag at a time!
Totally inappropriate. You need to make a trip to the toilet and or the garbage can for your next dump.
Xlnt observation, Sir! I’ll pull the handle twice to help make up for the distance. Should be to you in two shakes.
Curious indeed. If you go back about 15 years, there was an incident at Riviera Terrace trailer park where someone was charged with murder. He was previously a Libertarian candidate for office, possibly even within the previous year. Before that, he was in Fairbanks and drew attention for open-carrying on MACS Transit buses and at the Noel Wien Public Library. If you go back about 15 years before that, there was a death on a boat near Port Alexander and a flag-burning incident in North Pole which were tied to the same person. That person was recruited by LP officials to work on their efforts opposing Prop 2 (cannabis recriminalization).
Doesn’t sound like a road rage incident as much as it sounds like two people who hated each other thus leading to murder. What a joke and a piece of garbage. He has no business running for dog catcher much less a state senate seat. The history of domestic violence calls is enough to disqualify him in my book. October 12 has been a crazy news day in Alaska.
Chased the victim for 5 miles even though he saw a child in the vehicle he was chasing.
Per the ADN article, Christiansen even had the presence of mind to call dispatch and report he was going to kill Moorhouse. Premeditated, cold blooded murder. Moorhouse’s prior from years back had nothing to do with this crime. Christiansen needs to spend the rest of his life in prison to protect the public.
I agree with you 100%, Barb!
That still doesn’t prove first degree. It may prove that he was totally out of his mind with blind rage and nothing was going to stop him. That’s a long way from planned execution. He’ll take the second plee I guarantee it.
‘Palmer Police have been to Christiansen’s house numerous times on calls relating to domestic disputes.’
im wondering how he became a candidate in the first place. im guessing background checks and whatnots dont happen?
After all the comments from Gavin on his For Alaskans page and when he had a Gavin Christiansen page (changed to a alias), not surprised this happened.
He was all over the place on the Facebook pages, lied repeatedly, supported BLM and I heard from several people that had real concerns about his mental state and his past violence.
I just hope that this is such news that Libertarians get this, and then vote for Sen. Shelley Hughes, not fill in his oval just because he has a “Libertarian” label on the ballot.
First hey argued on FB so that shows this was not just chance road rage incident but a planned meeting. since a gun was taken too the meeting it shows that there was some preplanning and thought before. Although, we don’t know what they argued about it seems unlikely they just happened to see each other in a odd gravel pit where a car was rammed into the other persons car. I see nothing wrong with shooting at someone as they drive at you, as your life is in danger and a car can be used as a deadly weapon. however, to shoot at someone as they drive away when your life is not in danger is not same in my mind. That is like shooting a person in the back and not self defense. Three, to chase the person for five miles shows you plan do do more harm you could have just turned the other way and called the troopers to let them take care of it. last to chase the person down pull along side mirror to mirror and shoot several times into a closed window is murder. I would think first degree. The only thing he did right was call the troopers after. It has been a few years since the last time I was on Willow Fish hook but the last time there was not a lot of cell phone signal on the road. As I recall there was not any past the willow creek bridge if this took place at the gravel pit a few miles past that so I am a bit skeptical of that also.
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