Alaskan Criminals Make Police Work Much Easier by Shooting Each Other and Crashing Their Own Cars

Criminals aren’t always the sharpest tools in the shed. Here’s a textbook case.

In late June, police were called to the scene of a homicide. The man killed was Geoffrey Sorden, age 48, who had gotten into a gunfight with a resident. When police arrived, the resident was still at the scene. He’d also been shot, but not fatally. Police determined that there was a third person in the house who fled the scene.

According to police reports, “Detectives have determined this to be a targeted crime. They believe the altercation was related to on-going activity inside the residential building possibly involving money and drugs.”

About two months later, police attempted to stop the third man, 41-year-old Jason Premo, after spotting his suspicious vehicle. Instead of complying with the traffic stop, Premo initiated a car chase, which ended with him crashing the car into a pole and rendering it useless. He then continued to resist arrest by jumping out of the vehicle and attempting to flee on foot. Finally, he barricaded himself inside a nearby shed and refused to come out for a while. Eventually, he surrendered to police negotiation techniques. This would have made a great episode of Cops. 

As a result of that dim-witted development, police were able to identify the criminal mastermind (not really) who initiated the June break-in as 41-year-old Nathan Mattie, shown in the cover photo. Police believe Mattie sent the Premo and Sorden to the residence to rob the place. Police are still searching for Mattie and logging updates here.

Although bad guys should never have guns, in this case, it seems to be benefitting the good guys.