The Latest: Suspect charged in Hatcher Pass assaults

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The Latest on two men found shot and wounded at Hatcher Pass (all times local):

2:25 p.m.

State prosecutors say an Anchorage man tried to execute two brothers at a mountain pass in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough.

Thirty-four-year-old Matthew Scharber is charged with attempted murder and kidnapping in the shooting Oct. 27 of Kevin and Keeton Kirlin. The brothers told investigators Scharber suspected they had taken his wallet.

The men were found lying in a road at Hatcher Pass 12 miles north of Palmer.

Prosecutors say they had been beaten, bound, kidnapped and driven in their own car from Anchorage, then shot and left for dead on the mountainside. A passer-by found them after three hours in the cold.

They are expected to recover.

Prosecutors say the brothers went to Scharber’s apartment and were accosted by Scharber and two other men.

They told investigators they had known Scharber for about a year.

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A 34-year-old Anchorage resident has been charged with two counts of attempted murder of two men found injured at Hatcher Pass.

Matthew Scharber also is charged with kidnapping, felony assault and car theft.

Alaska State Troopers say Scharber was arrested Monday with help from the Anchorage Police Department SWAT team.

A witness Oct. 27 found the two men in their early 20s injured and abandoned at Hatcher Pass near Archangel Trail.

The men said their car had been stolen.

Troopers recovered the car in the parking lot of an Anchorage shopping centre.

After collecting evidence, troopers obtained a search warrant for Scharber’s home. They seized methamphetamine and evidence of other crimes.

The Alaska Public Defender Agency, which does not comment on pending cases, was appointed to represent Scharber.