Juneau police believe they have a suspect in connection with a racial incident that marred the parade at the end of last month’s Alaska Native Celebration festival.
The Michigan man also is being investigated by the Secret Service and is wanted in Hawaii for threatening people.
Alexander Logan Libbrecht, 32, is being held on $25,000 bail in Lemon Creek Correctional Center on charges of fourth-degree assault.
Juneau Police Lt. Kris Sell says Libbrecht yelled racist slurs and threatened a black woman last week on Gold Street.
“He didn’t access a weapon or touch her, she was in fear based on the fact that he was calling her the ‘N’ word and saying he was going to bash her head in, and he’s in a rage walking up and down the street,” Sell says. “She was very frightened.”
Libbrecht’s behavior was similar to that of a man who allegedly yelled racist slurs during the June 14 Celebration parade, grabbed an American flag carried by an Alaska Native veteran, then ran, shoving people in his way, even knocking a woman down.
“We are working with some photo line ups with witnesses to that. Also his behavior is very consistent with what happened at Celebration,” she says.
Police believe he was the same man that knocked over Main Street traffic barricades just before the flag incident.
It’s not clear how long Libbrecht has been in Juneau, or why he came here. On June 26th, the U.S. Secret Service asked JPD for assistance in contacting him for an interview regarding threats he made against President Barack Obama as well as a New Jersey attorney. Lt. Sell says the threats were left in voice mails during telephone calls made from Juneau to the New Jersey attorney.
“Mr. Libbrecht was interviewed about a couple of things – first his threats against the president of the United States and also his threats to kill an attorney in New Jersey, who had previously represented Libbrecht in a different case. He threatened to stab and kill that attorney along with the attorney’s wife,” she says.
Libbrecht was arraigned in Juneau Superior Court late last week for the Gold Street incident.
“The Secret Service agent testified telephonically in court that the first interview was with Mr. Libbrecht in 2010. There was a subsequent interview, I believe, in 2012, then this most recent interview,” Sell says.
She says police have no indication that Libbrecht has ever gotten close to the president.
Libbrecht also is wanted in Hawaii on charges of terroristic threatening.
“The charges in Hawaii stem from an incident where he threw large rocks at people on a beach, ultimately clearing that beach of people who were recreating there,” she says.
JPD investigators knew about the Hawaii charges when they started investigating Libbrecht for the Celebration incident.
Hawaii court records indicate Libbrecht was arrested last October, held on $9,000 bail then released when bail was paid by a family member. The court ordered a mental evaluation, the results of which were not part of the accessible record.
According to court records, the prosecutor in that case had to get a stalking protective order against Libbrecht, because he threatened her.
After he failed to appear for a hearing in March, a judge issued a $100,000 bench warrant, meaning if he were to be arrested again in Hawaii, bail would be set at $100,000.
JPD Lt. Sell says she believes Libbrecht is dangerous. In addition to $25,000 bail set in the Juneau case, he can be released only to a third-party custodian.
