A 30-year-old Anchor Point man was arrested and charged in connection with two separate off-hours incidents involving gunfire at a Homer reproductive health clinic on Monday.
Josiah Kelly told police he fired at the clinic Monday as well as a Homer substance abuse recovery center last month “for religious beliefs,” according to a criminal complaint filed with charges.
Kelly also told clinic staff that he “had recently cancelled their trash service due to him not agreeing with family planning,” the complaint said. Kelly is affiliated with RRR Trash and Recycling. A message left at the company’s number was not immediately returned Tuesday.
Officials at the Kachemak Bay Family Planning Clinic said several rounds were fired into the front of the clinic’s administrative and education building at about 5:45 a.m. Monday. No one was in the building at the time.
A second shooting event occurred at about 6:50 p.m. Monday, clinic officials said in an email to the community Tuesday. Additional bullets and more damage were found throughout the building, it said. The building was unoccupied at that time as well.
Homer police arrested Kelly about 30 minutes later, according to Chief Mark Robl. Kelly said he was involved in both gunfire incidents on Monday as well as the incident in mid-October when someone discharged a firearm at the Kachemak Bay Recovery Connections building, according to a sworn affidavit filed with the complaint by Officer Tyler Jeffres.
Last month, staff at the Recovery Connection building contacted police on Oct. 20 and told them the front window appeared to have been shot seven times, according to the affidavit.
Officers arrested Kelly in a traffic stop Monday evening after witnesses described a green Toyota Tundra pickup involved in the gunfire, according to the chief. Kelly was cooperative during his arrest, Robl said.
He is facing multiple counts of felony charges of misconduct involving a weapon and criminal mischief. Additional charges are possible, police said.
Surveillance footage from the clinic early Monday showed a pickup pulling up to the building, and then eight muzzle flashes were visible from the driver’s side window, the affidavit said. Additional shots were fired during the evening incident, it said.
Police discovered a 9mm Smith and Wesson pistol in the truck that was “still slightly warm to the touch and appeared to have fired recently,” Jeffres wrote.
The family planning clinic was closed Tuesday but expected to reopen Wednesday.
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Willy Dunne, vice president of Recovery Connection and a Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly member from Homer, said he attended Kelly’s arraignment hearing on Tuesday morning. Kelly participated by phone from the Homer jail.
The nonprofit was in the process of moving into the space last month when the shooting occurred, Dunne said, adding it’s possible the intended target was a prior tenant whose business included tarot readings and crystals.
He said he found the incidents at both locations disturbing.
“Sadly our society is so divisive right now,” Dunne said. “It’s sad to think that people will fire shots in order to express their displeasure, their religious beliefs, it’s frightening.”
The Kachemak Bay Family Planning Clinic, formed in the 1980s, provides reproductive health care, with services including birth control consulting, emergency contraception, cancer screenings, gender-affirming hormone care, pregnancy testing and infertility consultation, according to its website. In addition to clinical services, the organization provides educational outreach for youths. The clinic does not perform abortions. CEO Claudia Haines said they offer pregnancy option counseling.
The clinic “remains committed to supporting every person’s right to life-affirming reproductive health care and education in Homer, at the flagship clinic and throughout the Kenai Peninsula as part of our Pop-Up Clinic and outreach programs,” the CEO said in Tuesday’s email.