On January 22, 2016, in Kotzebue, Alaska, Alaskan Native Joshua Floyd Sours III age 27, was shot in the early morning hours and later pronounced dead at the local hospital. Kotzebue Police and paramedics responded to a report of a shooting on Second Avenue at approximately 1:18 a.m.; they found the 27-year-old with a gunshot wound, and he could not be saved.
News releases and local coverage identified the victim and marked the city's shock at a killing that unfolded on a quiet winter night above the Arctic Circle.
Within days, authorities arrested three teenagers—Brandon Michael Nelson Tony Jackson and Frank Jackson Jr.. All three were arraigned in Kotzebue Trial Court on January 25, 2016, and initially charged with second-degree murder, first-degree robbery, and tampering with physical evidence. Police noted that, because of the seriousness of the alleged crimes, the 17-year-old was automatically waived into adult status; bail for each was set at $1 million as investigators continued to reconstruct the events of the night.
Court records later established that the killing occurred during a planned robbery at Joshua Floyd Sours's home. According to appellate summaries, the three brothers went there intending to get money for alcohol; during the robbery, the 17-year-old, Brandon Michael Nelson, fatally shot the 27-year-old victim. The group then stole a snowmachine and used it in an effort to dispose of evidence tied to the crime before their arrests brought the episode to a close.
The legal resolution unfolded over the following years through plea agreements and sentencing. Brandon Michael Nelson pleaded guilty to first-degree robbery and manslaughter; a superior court judge imposed a composite sentence of 40 years with 20 suspended—20 years to serve. Tony Jackson and Frank Jackson each pleaded guilty to first-degree robbery and first-degree vehicle theft for their roles surrounding the robbery and aftermath; both received identical composite sentences of 17 years with 8 years suspended—9 years to serve. Appellate decisions also describe probation conditions restricting contact among the brothers without court permission.
Across public records documenting the case, Joshua Floyd Sours III is memorialized as a 27-year-old Male who “lost to gun violence” on January 22, 2016, in Kotzebue, a stark phrase that echoes the swift arrests, the stark robbery-gone-wrong narrative, and the sentences that followed for the teenagers who entered his home that night.
