A 27-year-old Casper man with an extensive record faces charges for a home invasion at a Mills, Wyoming, family home in which police say he struck and threatened a man with knife and told him and his wife he was going to “shoot up the house.”
Alexander Paul Cochran appeared in Casper Circuit Court Tuesday on one count of unlawful entry, one count of aggravated assault and battery, one count of possession of a controlled substance and one count of simple assault.
Mills Police Department responded to a call from the 300 Block of Lakeview Drive at 2:20 a.m. on Monday after the residents of the home, which included two children, said Cochran was trying to fight people and threatening to shoot up the house.
A Mills officer responding to the call saw a white pickup Cochran was in driving toward him as he approached the home. Cochran was in the passenger seat, with a male driver and female passenger also aboard, police said. He told Cochran to get out of vehicle. The officer noticed blood on Cochran’s right ear and a round silver gage earring in the other ear. Cochran denied an earring came out during the fight. It was later found in the house in the kitchen.
The Mills officer spoke to the occupants of the house and learned that the wife, a cousin of Cochran, had received a text message and threatening phone calls from Cochran, who said that he was going to come over and beat up her husband. Cochran’s ex-girlfriend had been at the home earlier in the evening and a social media post of her with his female cousin had triggered the threats and calls, the affidavit states.
After receiving the texts, shortly after 2 a.m. the white truck arrived and spun a “cookie” in the front yard. The husband went outside to investigate and heard a window get smashed and saw a female standing in the front yard. He said he went into the house through the back door and found Cochran inside.
A Threat
“Cochran told (the male resident) I’m gonna ‘f—- you up’’ and hit the man in the side of the face,” the man told police. The affidavit states the resident told officers he then placed Cochran in a headlock and the two wrestled to the ground and he eventually let Cochran go. At that time the male and female who were in the truck with Cochran entered the home as well.
Cochran then grabbed a knife from a knife block and made slight stabbing motions toward the husband and told him “I’m going to get you,” the affidavit states. The man told police Cochran was about five feet away when he made the threat. Cochran then threw the knife in the sink and walked outside and threatened to “shoot up the house,” the affidavit states.
The wife told police that after putting the knife in the sink, Cochran and her husband exchanged words and Cochran pulled a second knife out of the knife block and a woman who had accompanied Cochran entered the kitchen and attempted to pull it out of his hand. He dropped it.
“Because of these threats and the fear of serious bodily harm coming upon their children, (the couple) gathered their two children and left the residence,” the affidavit states. “As they went and got into their vehicle, they noticed Cochran and the other individuals were gone. As the family left they noticed the truck return, however, the (family) left without further engaging them.”
The husband and wife told police Cochran had been coming to the home to eat and do laundry on past occasions. The husband said he was not invited that night and had no understanding why he was upset or what caused the outburst.
Smashed Windows
In an interview with Cochran, police observed he was intoxicated and he admitted being at a bar. Cochran told police that the husband had texted him threatening to “shoot him up.” He said the husband at the home grabbed a crowbar and smashed his own truck window so that he could call police and blame Cochran. He changed the story to say that the husband used the floor jack handle from the white truck to smash the windows.
“Cochran was adamant that nothing physical occurred and made no mention of being inside of the (family’s) residence,” the affidavit states.
Police found a half-ton blue Dodge Ram truck at the residence with the driver’s side of the rear window and passenger window shattered and the passenger-side mirror hit and damage. The front window of the truck was also destroyed with a foot-long block of concrete laying on the window. Inside the bed of the truck was a blue jack stand and inside the rear passenger side floorboard was the handle of the blue jack.
The male driver of the white truck told police when they arrived at the Mills residence, Cochran “began destroying and breaking property” that belonged to the residents.
Upon his arrest at the scene Monday morning, officers found cocaine in Cochran’s wallet.
Officers recovered two steak knives from a sink and an earring identical to the one Cochran was wearing in his left ear on the floor by the sink. They were collected for evidence.
Court records show Cochran has an extensive criminal record. He was sentenced to two to six years in prison in 2020 for child abuse. He also has past charges of violating probation and parole.
Both the unlawful entry and aggravated assault and battery charges carry penalties of up to 10 years in prison. The possession of a controlled substance charge carries a potential penalty of up to one year in jail and a $1,000 fine while the simple assault is punishable by up to six months in jail and a $750 fine.
Bond was set at $50,000 cash. Cochran remains in the Natrona County jail.
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
