Josiah Kelly, 31, of Anchor Point was sentenced on Wednesday, Oct. 1, for charges related to three separate shootings into a reproductive health clinic and a recovery center that occurred last fall in Homer.
On the evening of Oct. 19, 2024, Kelly shot at a building on Pioneer Avenue, which houses Kachemak Bay Recovery Connection. On two separate occasions on Nov. 11 — once in the early morning and again later that evening — he fired multiple shots at the Kachemak Bay Family Planning Clinic facility on Ben Walters Lane. No injuries were reported in any of the shootings, though both buildings sustained damage.
Kelly admitted to the shootings upon his arrest by the Homer Police Department on Nov. 11 and cited “religious beliefs” as motivation.
Originally indicted for 12 charges related to the three shootings, he accepted a plea deal during a hearing on June 16 and pled guilty to two counts of misconduct involving weapons in the second degree, one count of assault in the third degree, and two counts of terroristic threatening in the second degree. All five charges are classified as felonies. The remaining seven charges were dismissed in accordance with the plea deal.
According to an Oct. 2 press release issued by the State of Alaska Department of Law, Homer Superior Court Judge Bride Seifert sentenced Kelly on Wednesday to an aggregate sentence of 17 years in prison, with 10 years and six months suspended, followed by 10 years of probation. While on probation, Kelly is required to undergo a mental health evaluation and treatment and is disallowed from possessing any firearms. He is also forbidden from making contact with Kachemak Bay Family Planning Clinic, Kachemak Bay Recovery Connection, or three individuals — including two children — who were nearby when one of the shootings occurred in November.
In handing down the sentence, the release states, Seifert noted how “terrifying” Kelly’s actions were and that it was “one of the most serious cases in Homer over the last several years.”
KBRC president Willy Dunne, who called into the hearing by telephone, said that the incident “felt like a personal and violent attack” and affected not only staff, but participants as well.
“Bullets are still in our interior walls,” he said. “To this day, I think there are people who refuse to come to the building.”
On Saturday, Dunne shared an additional statement with the Homer News via text message on behalf of KBRC.
“We are relieved that this chapter of the violent attack on our facility is now closed. We are grateful that no one was injured, although the shooting certainly caused harms to our organization and participants,” he wrote. “We are grateful for the diligence of (the) Homer Police Department and District Attorney’s office in bringing this case to a close. We sincerely hope that Mr. Kelly pursues the mental health treatment required as part of his sentence.”
KBFPC CEO Claudia Haines, who was also present at the hearing, said Monday that the clinic’s staff and board members were relieved that justice had been served.
“Our agency, and really the whole community, can now continue on with the healing process following these acts of political violence,” she said.
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This story was updated Monday to include comments from Kachemak Bay Family Planning Clinic CEO Claudia Haines.
