On the morning of May 29, 2023, at approximately 12:39 a.m., Anchorage police officers raced to the 3800-block of Spenard Road in response to reports of gunfire. There, they discovered the body of a 34-year-old male of Asian descent, Shnon Choi. He had sustained trauma to his upper body and was pronounced dead at the scene. The chilling discovery marked Anchorage's eighth homicide of the year and set in motion a homicide investigation that would soon unravel a tangled web of acquaintanceship,
violence, and attempted concealment. The victim, 34-year-old male, was officially identified only after investigators completed next-of-kin notification procedures.
As detectives scoured the area, they learned that Choi had not been a random target. He and a 33-year-old male acquaintance, Nathan J. Williams, had both been present near the Chelsea Inn the night before. What began as a disagreement escalated into tragedy. Initial police indications revealed that the two knew each other, and during their time together, an argument erupted that led Williams to fatally shoot Choi.
Further details emerged showing a chilling sequence of events at the inn. According to court documents, a woman with Choi reported that they had spent time there overnight. While inside, Choi came across a 10mm handgun that he sold to Williams. Employees of the inn, including Josie Harvey, began instructing them to leave. The woman accompanying Choi departed, but he remained behind. Moments later, two gunshots rang out. A witness, drawn by the noise, said he heard a voice exclaim, “Don't do me like that,” immediately followed by a second shot. Outside, investigators found Choi's body and a 10mm shell casing. Evidence suggested Choi had been shot while lying on the ground.
While gathering video from the Chelsea Inn's surveillance system, police discovered that Williams was captured on footage firing two shots at Choi within 22 seconds of each other. Meanwhile, Josie Harvey, a hotel employee, was seen manipulating video footage behind the front counter between approximately 12:45 a.m. and 1:10 a.m., effectively tampering with evidence.
On June 2, 2023, investigators obtained a felony arrest warrant for Williams. He was charged with first- and second-degree murder stemming from the spate of events that led to Choi's death. That same day, Harvey was charged with evidence tampering for her actions involving the surveillance footage.
Williams, already wanted on multiple felony warrants unrelated to the shooting—including assault, weapons misuse, controlled-substance misconduct, theft, and failure to stop—became the target of a manhunt. On the evening of June 7, officers, supported by the Investigative Support Unit and K9 Midas, spotted Williams walking near Muldoon and Debarr roads. Williams fled into nearby woods and ignored commands to surrender. K9 Midas tracked him to the 7400-block of Old Harbor Avenue, where the dog found him hiding behind a woodpile and latched onto his arm. The bite allowed officers to safely apprehend Williams. He was treated for the dog bite at a hospital before being booked into the Anchorage Correctional Complex on all outstanding warrants and the murder charges.
In that narrative, the 34-year-old male victim, Shnon Choi, emerges not as a nameless statistic but as an individual whose life ended violently while entangled in a fatal conflict. Though the motives behind the disagreement remain murky, investigators confirmed Choi's identity, and justice appeared to move swiftly. Nathan J. Williams was identified and arrested as a suspect, surrounded by a trail of evidence from surveillance footage and witness testimony. The case reads like the unraveling of a tightly wound knot—one that began with acquaintance and ended in tragedy under the cold, early hours of Anchorage.
