Anchorage man arrested in stabbing at library had earlier been found incompetent to stand trial and released
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - A man was taken into custody Sunday after a stabbing at the Loussac Library in Anchorage, according to a news release from the Anchorage Police Department. The same man had been found incompetent to stand trial in January in a felony assault case and was released.
Corey L. Ahkivgak, 32, was charged with first-degree assault, third-degree assault, fourth-degree criminal mischief and violating conditions of release in the stabbing incident police say happened Sunday at the library.
Anchorage police were called to the Loussac Library at 3:17 p.m. that day for a report of a stabbing inside the library. Officers were told Ahkivgak was sitting at a table and stood up and ran toward two people near some bookshelves, stabbing a woman in the upper body before running from the building.
The woman was taken to the hospital for treatment of her injuries, and is expected to survive.
Online court records show that Superior Court Judge Josie Garton found Ahkivgak to be incompetent to stand trial for a case in which he faced felony assault charges, stemming from an incident in December 2021. The case was dismissed on Jan. 6.
Ahkivgak also encountered police on Feb. 10, according to charging documents filed in Sunday’s stabbing incident. The charges, signed by Assistant District Attorney Daniel Shorey, state that Anchorage police contacted Ahkivgak but that he was not arrested. Charges were forwarded to municipal prosecutors and Ahkivgak was released on his own recognizance.
Online court records show charges in the Feb. 10 incident have not yet been filed or are still pending.
According to the charging documents, Ahkivgak approached the woman he allegedly attacked on Feb. 13 while she was with her boyfriend in the library lobby. Surveillance video shows Ahkivgak walking up behind the pair and stabbing the woman in the middle of her back before running out of the building, charging documents state.
Officers found the woman with a multitool blade in her back. A security chased after Ahkivgak briefly, but returned to help the injured woman, according to the documents.
Police later located Ahkivgak walking near East 36th Avenue and Cottonwood Street. The officer gave the man verbal commands and took him into custody.
While riding in the patrol car to the station, police said in a community alert that Ahkivgak slipped his handcuffs from back to front and the officer had to pull over and re-cuff Ahkivgak while also putting hobbles on his legs.
While Ahkivgak was being interviewed at police headquarters, he flipped over a table and broke it, the release said.
Following the police interview, Ahkivgak was held in the Anchorage Correctional Complex. Police said there is no indication that Ahkivgak knew the stabbing victim. The motive for the attack is still being investigated.
According to the charging documents, the woman was in the hospital as of Monday. Shorey wrote that “she has lost feeling in some of her extremities, and the injury is to her spinal cord.”
Ahkivgak is scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday afternoon.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated with additional information.
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