Alaska teen pleads not guilty to 16 felony counts in shooting that left 2 dead, 2 injured

A 16-year-old boy in Alaska was charged as an adult in the shooting deaths of two people in the village of Point Hope. He was arraigned on Friday and faces 16 felony charges, according to the Associated Press.

Daniel Dalle-Molle, who is the public defender for Guy Nashookpuk, entered not guilty pleas to the charges leveled by a grand jury. The arraignment took less than five minutes. Nashookpuk appeared telephonically from jail for the proceeding that took place at the courthouse in Kotzebue.

The teenager faces two counts each of first- and second-degree murder, four counts of attempted murder, seven counts of assault, and a single count of burglary in the February 25 shooting that left two people dead and two others injured.

ABC News reported that the names of the victims have not been released, and the North Slope Borough spokesperson did not reveal why this was the case. The teen's bail was set at $1 million, which was maintained at the arraignment.

There are not many details about the shooting that allegedly took place in the remote village about 700 miles from Anchorage and 200 miles from the Russian border. The authorities said they discovered two people dead and two others injured after responding to a call about a shooting at a Point Hope home, per the report.

One witness told the authorities that the teen allegedly entered the home with a handgun and began shooting, but the details surrounding the altercation are not yet known. After the teen allegedly shot the victims, he fled on a four-wheeler.

Just ten minutes after the incident, the teen's father took him to the police station after he said his son admitted to shooting four people, according to court documents. Police also noted that the teen admitted to shooting the victims while his parents were present.

No motive has yet been established in the case. It is also unknown if the teen knew the victims.

The AP reported that Point Hope has a population of 675 people and sits on a "triangular spit of land that juts into the Chukchi Sea." The community is known as Tikigaq in Inupiaq, and it is nested in a treeless grid around the Tikigaq School, also known as the "Home of the Harpooners."

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