John Gould, 65, was found dead of multiple gunshot wounds in the early minutes of April 27, 2025, after Alaska State Troopers responded to a shooting report in Ester around 12:30 a.m. The death occurred at Gould’s cabin on Midway Placer Road; his body was sent to the State Medical Examiner and next of kin were notified.

According to contemporaneous accounts and court filings, a bonfire gathering at the cabin turned violent after a comment directed at attendee Thomas Allen Wilson sparked a confrontation. Witnesses said Wilson allegedly raised a hatchet and threatened a woman, left, then returned and took a .40-caliber handgun from a nearby cabin. Multiple people recalled hearing a single gunshot near Wilson’s cabin shortly afterward. Troopers identified Wilson, 38, as a suspect, arrested him at the scene and booked him into the Fairbanks Correctional Center on charges including first-degree murder, third-degree assault, and second-degree theft; bail was set at $1 million. The troopers’ dispatch noted the charges are accusations pending adjudication.

Obituaries reported Gould had lived in Alaska for about three decades, was born in Seattle in 1959, and had served in the U.S. Army; community tributes followed his death. Does anyone have information about the events at the bonfire or the moments just before the gunshot?