Black/African American male Treavonne Owens, 30, was found fatally shot on the morning of September 13, 2016, near the intersection of West 15th Avenue and E Street in Anchorage, Alaska. Police received the call shortly after 6 a.m. and located the 30-year-old victim in the street, steps from Central Middle School and within blocks of Chugach Optional Elementary, prompting school closures as the scene was secured.
Authorities publicly identified him that day, confirming his age and that he had been killed by gunfire in the South Addition neighborhood.
Detectives quickly focused on a man they said knew the victim. Within hours, a suspect was taken into custody, and police said the men were acquainted. Investigators also asked for the public's help finding 26-year-old Marcus Wright, who they believed had information about the killing; later the same day, Wright contacted police. The early investigation's urgency was matched by vivid glimpses into the suspect's state of mind: in the hours after the shooting, he went on Facebook Live and spoke about what had happened, a detail that underscored the raw, unfolding nature of the case as Anchorage tallied a grim year of homicides.
Prosecutors ultimately named the gunman as Tommy Rumph, then 31. According to the Alaska Department of Law, Rumph and Owens were co-workers entangled in a dispute over money from a cocaine transaction. Rumph told authorities he maintained a side hustle selling cocaine and claimed Owens had turned up at his home unannounced around 3 a.m.; hours later, Owens, 30, was shot and left in the roadway. The state charged Rumph with first- and second-degree murder, as well as misconduct involving a controlled substance and a weapon.
A jury returned guilty verdicts in March 2020, finding Rumph guilty of murder in the first degree and murder in the second degree, along with related drug and weapons counts. In December 2021, a judge sentenced him to 65 years in prison for the murder, with additional concurrent time on the weapons and drug offenses. The conviction and sentence closed the loop on a case that began at daybreak on a downtown-adjacent street and ended with a long term of imprisonment for the man who killed Treavonne Owens, 30.
