In the quiet hours before dawn on June 25, 2022, 26-year-old Christopher Shaw, a white male from Anchorage, was shot outside along the 4600 block of Mountain View Drive, near the Holiday Stationstore. Police were dispatched at 2:01 a.m. and found him on the ground with a gunshot wound to the upper chest; medics tried to save him, but he died of his injuries shortly afterward.
The Anchorage Police Department quickly labeled the case a homicide as detectives began piecing together what had happened and appealed to the public for surveillance footage and tips that might reveal who opened fire and why.
Across the next twenty-four hours, investigators released suspect images and asked for help identifying two people believed to be involved. By June 29, officers had taken two individuals into custody for questioning: a 20-year-old man and a 15-year-old boy. The 20-year-old, Kainoa Duarte-Borden, was booked into the Anchorage jail on charges of first- and second-degree murder, while the juvenile's case was referred to Alaska's Division of Juvenile Justice. Police credited the public's response to the suspect photographs with helping them locate those involved.
Court filings described the killing as a drive-by shooting captured on surveillance cameras, with investigators tying a silver Ford Focus seen on video to Duarte-Borden. Prosecutors also alleged in early charging documents that the shooting bore hallmarks of gang activity and linked Duarte-Borden as a suspect in two similar incidents days earlier, though those allegations remained to be tested in court. In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, officers had been called to Mountain View Drive and North Bliss Street and found Christopher Shaw with a fatal wound to his upper body; medics pronounced him dead within minutes.
On July 7, 2022, a grand jury indicted Duarte-Borden on two counts of second-degree murder for the killing of Christopher Shaw. According to authorities, he was held in the Department of Corrections' custody under stringent bail conditions, including $200,000 in combined cash bonds, electronic monitoring with house arrest if released, and court-approved third-party supervision. As of the indictment, officials emphasized that the charges were allegations and that the defendant was presumed innocent pending trial, even as detectives continued to build the case around the early-morning gunfire that ended the life of 26-year-old Christopher Shaw.
