An emergency room doctor reported that it appeared the victim in a fatal Fairbanks shooting died execution-style.
Adayus Deandre Robertson, 24, faces charges of felony first-degree murder, felony tampering with physical evidence, and two counts of misdemeanor bail violation in connection with the fatal shooting, which took place Friday.
Robertson, whose rank is private first class, was a chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear specialist, according to 11th Airborne Division spokesperson Lt. Col. Leah Ganoni. Robertson enlisted in the Army in 2023, with Fort Wainwright being his only duty station since enlistment.
According to a criminal complaint filed Sunday, Fairbanks police responded to a report of shots fired at an apartment in the 1100 block of 27th Avenue around 9:51 a.m. Friday. Officers found 37-year-old Joseph Casas unresponsive in the apartment’s kitchen with a gunshot wound to his head.
At Fairbanks Memorial Hospital, an emergency room doctor told police that “it appeared that Casas had a back to front penetrating gunshot wound,” and that “it appeared Casas had been executed,” officers wrote in the complaint. Casas was pronounced dead at FMH.
A witness told police that Robertson was in the apartment at the time of the shooting.
Robertson was on ankle monitoring at the time. GPS monitoring software showed that Robertson was at the 27th Avenue apartment at 9:48 a.m., near the intersection of 22nd Avenue and Cowles Street at 10:02 a.m., and at The Big Dipper Ice Arena at 10:11 a.m. Foot tracks in the snow and surveillance footage matched the GPS data.
Tracks in the snow also led police to a locked dumpster in the 1100 block of 22nd Avenue, where officers found a .40-caliber Glock 27 handgun — known as a compact Glock — and a 15-round magazine loaded with six cartridges. The gun was registered to Robertson’s stepfather.
Police also found an empty .40-caliber magazine associated with a compact Glock in Robertson’s pocket.
Robertson spoke with Fairbanks police but refused to discuss the events leading up to the shooting. He said that multiple people were “popping in and out” of the apartment Thursday night.
Robertson said he thought Casas was “a friend.” He said that while he was in the kitchen Friday morning to get orange juice, Casas was “‘bouncing around’ and saying a whole lot of crazy stuff.”
When asked about the magazine, Robertson said he got it from the couch at a friend’s apartment and believed the gun belonged to that friend.
A woman who was in the apartment at the time of the shooting told police that she and Robertson were in the bathroom together when he left her alone. She said she heard a loud bang, and Robertson told her they needed to leave. She added, “he picked stuff up off the table before we left,” and heard Robertson mumble about how “messed up” the situation was.
A man who was with Robertson at The Big Dipper told police he was in the bathroom when the gun went off. He said he “thought he was going to be next,” according to the complaint. The man told officers that Casas “didn’t deserve what happened to him” and agreed the shooting was an execution.
A Fairbanks judge set Robertson’s bail at $200,000. The judge ordered that he remain on ankle monitoring and house arrest. He is prohibited from possessing firearms as part of his bail conditions. Robertson is scheduled to appear with his attorney before Judge Thomas Temple on April 17.
Robertson was on bail conditions in two cases at the time of his arrest.
In January, Robertson reportedly fired a shot inside a South Cushman Street apartment and “pistol-whipped” a woman in the head. Fairbanks police found .38 caliber, .40 caliber, .45 caliber, and 5.7 caliber ammunition and four spent .22 caliber casings in his apartment. He faces felony assault charges in connection with the January incident and was initially placed on house arrest. A judge later modified that condition on April 1, switching Robertson to ankle monitoring.
Robertson provided pretrial service officers with an address in the 500 block of Lily Drive on Fort Wainwright as his house arrest location. Location monitoring software later showed Robertson at a Neely Road building on Fort Wainwright. Another soldier informed officers that Robertson would be on house arrest at the Neely Road address, and officers updated his monitoring records accordingly.
Robertson requested and received approval for a one-time visit to the Lily Drive house to retrieve his belongings and have dinner with family.
Ankle monitoring software showed Robertson was at the Lily Drive residence for about three hours on March 26. He was charged on March 27 with felony third-degree escape.
Contact Haley Lehman at 907-459-7575 or by email at hlehman@newsminer.com.
