Liyana Woods, a 19-year-old Black woman, was with friends in a South Fairbanks apartment in the early morning hours of September 15, 2024, when her life was cut short by a single gunshot. The 911 call came in around 7 a.m., placed by a 17-year-old male friend who was in the apartment with Liyana and two other people. He told dispatchers and responding Fairbanks Police Department officers that Liyana had accidentally shot herself while playing with a gun.
According to charging documents, Liyana was lying on a bed with another friend while the 17-year-old, Evan Titan Stevens-Kozevnikoff, sat on a couch facing them. The friend on the bed told detectives she was drifting in and out of sleep when a loud bang and the sight of smoke jolted her awake. She saw Liyana slumped over and Stevens-Kozevnikoff on the couch with a gun next to him, looking “scared and shocked.”
The witness said she immediately exclaimed, “He shot her,” but Stevens-Kozevnikoff denied it and yelled to call 911.
Investigators found the circumstances suspicious. The story of a self-inflicted wound began to unravel as they collected evidence. Detectives noted that there was no blood residue on the firearm, which they would have expected from a close-contact shot. A deputy state medical examiner later estimated the gun was fired from approximately 18 inches away from Liyana, a distance considered challenging for someone to shoot themselves.
The investigation progressed as police spoke with others close to the suspect. Stevens-Kozevnikoff’s stepbrother told officers that the 17-year-old had admitted to him that the shooting was an accident. He said Stevens-Kozevnikoff told him he was playing with the gun, did not know there was a bullet in the chamber, and the gun went off.
Ten days after Liyana’s death, authorities arrested Stevens-Kozevnikoff, a resident of North Pole. He was charged as an adult with one count of manslaughter, a Class A felony. At his arraignment, a judge set his bail at $50,000 with the condition that he not use or possess firearms. As of September 2024, the case against him was proceeding through the court system.
