Felon arrested in former Washington lawmaker Brian Sullivan’s death in Alaska

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – A convicted Alaska felon with a history of assaulting women was charged with first-degree murder Wednesday in the shooting death of an assistant state prosecutor in Barrow.

Ronald Fischer, 47, was arraigned in the death of Brian Sullivan, an assistant district attorney in the country’s northernmost community.

In a charging document, North Slope Borough police said Fischer shot Sullivan twice in the head in a jealous rage over the estranged mother of Fischer’s children, with whom Sullivan had started dating.

“Police believe that Fischer shot Sullivan twice in the face with a 20-gauge shotgun from a distance estimated at 10 feet (or less), as Sullivan was seated on a couch,” said Lt. Travis Welch in an affidavit accompanying the criminal complaint.

Sullivan was found with his feet crossed, Welch said, suggesting he made no attempt to confront the shooter or flee.

“In other words, Fischer shot a man who was seated, unarmed, and who posed no threat,” Welch said.

Sullivan was a former Army attorney and a former state legislator. He served in the Washington House of Representatives from January 1997 to January 2001, representing Tacoma.

Security video footage from a store across from the 37-year-old woman’s home showed Fischer entering before the shooting and exiting afterward, Welch wrote.

Since 1988, Fischer had been convicted for felony criminal mischief plus at least five misdemeanor assaults.

He was free on bail from a July 14 assault in which he was charged with whipping a woman with a belt. On Sept. 21, he was charged with punching the woman in the shooting case in the face.