By Ken Smith
Turnagain Times
David Yannello, a 29-year-old Girdwood resident, is facing charges of Assault In The First Degree, a class A felony, and Misconduct Involving Weapons In The Fourth Degree, a Class A misdemeanor for shooting another Girdwood man multiple times.
Prosecutors filed a charging document Dec. 16.
The shooting occurred just after midnight on Sunday, Nov. 23, after Brad Phelps, 31, left the Sitzmark Bar and Grill in Girdwood. A short distance down the road from the Sitzmark, Phelps encountered Yannello.
The two men got into a confrontation, and when it ended, Yannello had shot Phelps four times—three bullets in the abdomen, one in the arm. Yannello left Phelps lying on a snow bank on the side of Arlberg Road, the chargingdocument states.
According to Trooper Sgt. Bryan Barlow of the Girdwood Post, he was contacted by a bus driver who spotted Phelps lying in a pool of blood on Arlberg around 12:30 a.m. The bus driver said he passed Phelps earlier during his regular route but assumed he was drunk and did not stop.
Girdwood resident and volunteer fireman Nick Danger, who lives on Arlberg Road close to where the shooting took place, notice his pager showed a Code Red around 12:30 a.m. Danger looked out his window and saw two people administering first aid to Phelps, and he quickly ran outside to help.
Danger said a man and a woman in a white SUV saw Phelps laying on the side of the road near the Jade Shop. They pulled over, and quickly administered first aid. The woman holding Phelps head up, while the man applied pressure to a large open wound in his abdomen.
Carl Madson, another member of the Girdwood Fire Department lives in a condo off Olympic Mountain Loop Road. He heard the emergency call on his hand held radio and drove down to the scene.
Two Medical units from the Girdwood Fire Dept, arrived around 12:40 a.m.
“He was conscious, but in critical condition,” said Wayne Stalcup, Assistant Fire Chief, and incident commander.
Paramedics immediately attended to Phelps and transported him to Providence Hospital where he underwent surgery.
The first man on the scene told Danger he had EMS experience.
“Those two people probably saved his life,” said Stalcup. The couple left the scene without identifying themselves.
Sgt. Barlow received the 911 call when he was in Bird and arrived with another Trooper after the ambulance had left.
Barlow said they surveyed the scene and found seven spent casings on the ground, apparently from a .45 caliber handgun.
Troopers stated in the charging document that it appeared Phelps had been laying in the roadway for some time before passersbys reached him. Troopers said they saw no markings on the road suggesting Phelps had crawled to the place where he was shot.
The EMT’s that took Phelps to the hospital determined that Phelps had been shot in the pelvis from the side, in the arm, and in the back.
About 30 minutes after the first 911 call, Girdwood dispatch received a phone call from the Tesoro gas station reporting that the “shooter” was at the gas station with Andrew Straley.
The charging document states that Yannello turned himself into the Trooper’s office at the Girdwood Post. He gave a statement to Sgt. Barlow and said that he encountered Phelps and alleged that he and Phelps started arguing, though the subject of the argument was not apparent.
Yannello said he did not know Phelps, but that Phelps was argumentative, cussing, touching forehead to forehead with Yannello, and “unreasonable.” Yannello alleged that he moved away from Phelps, but that Phelps came at him again, but this time with a knife in his hand. Yannello alleged that he pulled out his .45 Kimber handgun and fired a warning shot. He said that Phelps continued to come toward him and he shot Phelps two times, for a total of five shots fired.
Before Yannello sat down to talk to Sgt. Barlow, a standard folding pocket knife was found in his coat pocket. Yannello later told Barlow that it was the knife that Phelps’ brandished at him and that was why he shot him. Yannello said he took the knife from the scene after Phelps was down on the ground.
Sgt. Barlow smelled alcohol on Yannello’s breath and said he could tell he was intoxicated. Yannello was given a breath test and registered at .132 at 2:08 a.m. A datamaster registered at .096 at 3:15 a.m. The legal limit for alcohol is .08.
Phelps said in the charging document that he remembers no argument and he thinks he said, “Don’t point that gun if you’re not going to use it.” He did not remember seeing the gun fired and he just remembers great pain in his abdomen.
Phelps stated that he does not own any knives, but does use a Leatherman while at work. The hospital reported that Phelps’s blood alcohol content was .26.
After he gave his statement to Sgt. Barlow, Yannello was transported to Anchorage and remanded into custody where he posted $50,000 bail and was released on Monday, Nov. 24.
Phelps is still in intensive care at Providence Hospital. His father, Gary, and mother, Bonnie, flew in from Germany where they live and work.
Phelps wounds are through the stomach, kidneys and pancreas.
His father spoke to the Times and said his son had only been in Girdwood for 17 days before the shooting. He said his son moved to Girdwood from Vermont and was looking for work as a welder.
He said he and his wife have been by their son’s side 24 hours a day and that Brad is fighting off a serious staff infection. He has had a couple of other setbacks, but the doctors are optimistic about his recovery, the father said.
“We’re doing the best we can and we’ll be here to support him,” he said.