On Sunday night authorities arrested a suspect in the Thanksgiving shooting that occurred after a drug deal gone wrong, according to a press release from the Juneau Police Department.
At about 7:48 p.m. Sunday, the JPD received information that Micah Nelson, 27, was at a residence on the 10000 block of Glacier Highway. Night patrol then surrounded the house and contacted the occupants inside to confirm that Nelson was there, according to the press release.
Nelson then turned himself in without further incident after realizing that he was surrounded, the release states.
The police department had identified Nelson as the suspect in the shooting on Nov. 23. Last Tuesday, a search for Nelson put Dzantik’i Heeni Middle School on “stay put” mode after a tip led officers to believe he was at a home in Switzer Village in the Lemon Creek area nearby. When officers got there, Nelson took off running into the woods above the Gruening Park Apartments, said Juneau Police Department Lt. Krag Campbell.
[Middle school locks down as police search for wanted person]
Nelson has two felony warrants out for his arrest, for probation and parole violations, in addition to being the suspect in the Thanksgiving shooting, according to a JPD release. That shooting took place in the 1000 block of Coogan Drive, and was believed to be in connection to the sale of narcotics, police said. The victim, a 46-year-old man, was shot in the shoulder and was in stable condition at the hospital shortly after the shooting, the JPD release said at the time.
Police previously said the shooting appeared to be an “isolated incident.” Through interviews with witnesses, police learned that the two men knew each other and the altercation was about the sale of narcotics.
• Contact reporter Mollie Barnes at 523-2228 or mbarnes@juneauempire.com. Juneau Empire reporter Alex McCarthy contributed to this report.
