Black / African American male Michael Jeremy Hodges, 27, stepped into the former Bojangles night club in Fairbanks, Alaska, on the night of September 3 leading into the early hours of September 4, 2016. What began as a fight inside the club spilled into the parking lot just after closing time. In the chaos outside, a single round struck the 27-year-old in the chest. He was rushed to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital, where efforts to save him failed in the early morning of September 4.
Two other people were wounded during the same burst of violence: 25-year-old Jesse Craig Anderson was critically injured, and 22-year-old Breannah Jayde Mitchell suffered a minor gunshot wound and later sought treatment herself. The sudden stillness after the shots left friends, passersby, and first responders trying to piece together a brawl turned deadly.
Within days, police identified a suspect and made arrests. Investigators said the shooter was 22-year-old Tevyn Alonza Davis, a soldier stationed at nearby Fort Wainwright, who was arrested and charged with second-degree murder in the death of 27-year-old Michael Jeremy Hodges and first-degree assault for the wounding of 25-year-old Jesse Craig Anderson. Officers also arrested 28-year-old Joshua Haynes on a weapons-misconduct charge in connection with the scene that night. The outline of what happened settled into focus: a fight inside, a surge into the lot, a single chest shot that took a life, and stray gunfire that injured others.
Court proceedings stretched on. In December 2018, after 15 days of testimony and more than three days of deliberation, a Fairbanks jury was unable to reach a verdict, and a mistrial was declared. The case did not fade; instead, it moved toward resolution by agreement.
Years later, Tevyn Alonza Davis entered a plea to second-degree murder for fatally shooting 27-year-old Michael Jeremy Hodges and to first-degree assault for non-fatally shooting 25-year-old Jesse Craig Anderson. Under the terms accepted by the court, Davis received a composite sentence of 90 years with 60 years suspended—30 years to serve—and was ordered to pay substantial restitution for Anderson's medical costs. The plea closed the loop on a long path from a parking-lot fight to a courtroom record, fixing responsibility for the death that began in the cramped, neon light of a Fairbanks nightclub.
In the days after, remembrances described 27-year-old Michael Jeremy Hodges as a young father, born July 24, 1989, whose life ended abruptly on September 4, 2016. Notes from family and friends marked the hole left by his absence, folding a private grief into a public tragedy whose details would be argued for years before the law finally spoke.
