A suspect who allegedly shot a woman in the hand after offering her a ride in January has been indicted in a total of eight violent Anchorage crimes, including the recent chain restaurant robberies across town and three incidents in a single day.
APD spokesperson Anita Shell says 25-year-old Alejandro Aulman was indicted by a grand jury Friday on seven counts of robbery, nine counts of assault, three counts of burglary and one count of theft. He already faces charges of first-degree robbery and first-degree assault in the hand-shooting incident.
Shell says Aulman was a "bad actor" who was implicated in the other cases, but couldn't be formally connected to them until they were fully investigated.
"This guy was on the radar," Shell said.
The cases began on New Year’s Day, with a nighttime home-invasion robbery in which Aulman allegedly knocked a man unconscious at his East 12th Avenue residence, taking a handgun and some cash.
On the morning of Jan. 2, police say Aulman brandished a gun when he robbed a Subway restaurant at 6110 Old Seward Hwy., running away after taking an unspecified amount of cash.
On Jan. 3, Aulman is believed to have hit a Downtown Pizza Hut at 118 E. 6th Ave., demanding and receiving money at gunpoint before driving away.
After the initial sequence of three crimes in three days, police say Aulman hit the Extended Stay Hotel at 108 E. 8th Ave. in a Jan. 9 armed robbery, taking not only money from the front-desk clerk but also her purse.
A Jan. 11 robbery at the Burger King restaurant at 700 Northway Dr., near the Northway Mall, prompted police to conduct a major manhunt in the area. Shell says Aulman is believed to have slipped away in a nearby trailer park.
The series of crimes which led to Aulman’s arrest all occurred on Jan. 15. A woman called police at about 6 p.m. to report that she had just woken up covered in blood after answering the door at her home on the 2700 block of East 17th Avenue.
“The victim last remembered answering a knock on her residence door,” Shell wrote. “The contents of the victim’s purse had been dumped out on the floor and a small amount of cash was taken. The victim was transported to the hospital where she was treated for multiple facial bone fractures.”
Police also responded to a reported burglary on the same day on the 1600 block of Birchwood Street, in which a man said the door to his home had been kicked in between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. It’s not clear whether anything was taken, however.
In the final crime for Aulman was indicted and the one which led to his arrest, a woman called police at about 4:30 p.m. after she was shot in the hand by a man who had offered her a ride in his SUV, then tried to take her purse. She was able to escape near 10th Avenue and Latouche Street, and police were subsequently able to track Aulman down near the 1200 block of Nelchina Street a few hours later.
“Detectives have worked tirelessly in an effort to solve these crimes and bring the offender to justice,” Shell wrote.
Aulman was arraigned on the new charges Tuesday afternoon. He pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.
Channel 2's Rebecca Palsha contributed information to this story.
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