Kiana man Teddy Kyle Smith has been taken into custody by Alaska State Troopers Thursday, in connection with both the Tuesday shooting of two hunters at a cabin in the area and a previous arrest warrant for firing on a crowd in the Northwest Alaska town.
Smith hadn't been seen since Sept. 7, when he was allegedly intoxicated and fired shots at people responding to what troopers have called the suspicious death of his mother, 70-year-old Dolly Smith.
According to troopers, brothers Paul and Charles Buckel were floating the Squirrel River hunting, and stopped at a cabin along the river about 40 miles upstream from Kiana. They encountered a man there -- identified Thursday as Smith -- who shot them after an altercation, then stole their inflatable boat and took to the river.
Troopers were alerted to the incident at 3:36 a.m. The two men were transported to hospitals, eventually ending up in Fairbanks and Anchorage. They were able to give investigators an account of what happened.
Searchers spotted the stolen boat from the air Wednesday, about 35 miles upriver from Kiana. Using both aircraft and boats, troopers staged about 16 miles upriver from the community, where they encountered Smith at about 2:45 p.m.
Smith surrendered without incident, according to an AST dispatch.
An arrest warrant for Smith in the Tuesday shootings includes two counts each of first-degree attempted murder and second-degree theft, as well as one count each of first-degree robbery and third-degree misconduct involving weapons. Smith also faces three counts of third-degree assault, plus single fourth-degree counts of assault and misconduct involving weapons, from a warrant issued after the Sept. 7 incident.
Troopers say Smith, who has not been charged in Dolly Smith's death, will have his bail set at $500,000. He will be arraigned Friday in Kotzebue.
Email Kortnie Horazdovsky
