Man accused of threatening cousin with knife says ‘it was a clean fight’

CASPER, Wyo. —  Mills police and Natrona County prosecutors say a 27-year-old man went into a cousin’s residence in Mills after a night of drinking last week and pulled a knife on him during a fight.

Alexander Cochran, 27, is charged with aggravated assault and battery, unauthorized entry to commit battery, simple battery and possession of cocaine. He is presumed innocent unless proven or pleading guilty.

At his initial appearance on Tuesday, Cochran denied ever pulling a knife.

“It was a clean fight,” he said.

A woman called police around 2:18 a.m. Monday to report that Cochran — reportedly her husband’s cousin — had showed up trying to fight people and had threatened to “shoot up” the house, according to the Mills Police Department affidavit. Two minutes later, the officer pulled over a white truck driving away from the area.

The officer noted Cochran, the passenger, seemed heavily intoxicated and had blood coming from one earlobe, which was missing the silver gage earring to match the one in his other ear, the officer wrote in the report.

Cochran said that he had been at the bar when the man who lived at the residence started texting him and threatening him. He said the group “pulled up to the house” but nothing physical happened.

The husband said he and his family were at home when Cochran began calling and texting saying that was going to “beat his ass” and “shoot up the house.” He said he heard a diesel truck pull up to the house while he was outside and heard a window smash. He said that Cochran was already inside the house when he went back in and that Cochran came at him and struck him in the side of the face.

The husband said he got Cochran in a headlock and got the better of him, eventually letting him go. By then, the two people Cochran had arrived with were in the house without permission.

The man said Cochran then grabbed a knife out of the block on the kitchen counter, pointed it at him and said “I’m gonna get you,” according to the statement in the affidavit. He said Cochran then threw the knife in the sink and went outside. At this point the man said he gathered up his family to leave.

Investigating the home, police found two steak knives in the sink and an earring matching Cochran’s on the floor of the kitchen. The front wooden fence was broken apart in places and there were several smashed windows in the truck. There was a block of concrete on the smashed front window, according to the affidavit.

The wife told police Cochran grabbed a second knife from the block while threatening her husband. She said one of the people Cochran arrived with came into the kitchen and tried to grab the knife away, causing Cochran to drop it, and then dragged him out of the house.

This person told police she did not remember anything except being at two bars and drinking tequila, a statement the officer found credible. The second witness who came with Cochran confirmed the complainants’ statements about Cochran having a knife.

The man’s wife told police Cochran and her husband were cousins and generally had a good relationship. She told police Cochran used to date her friend, and that somehow the lap dance this female friend had given her earlier in the night ended up on Snapchat, prompting the irate and threatening messages from Cochran and him threatening to come over.

The affidavit includes detailed observations about Cochran’s alleged state of intoxication and untruthfulness, but no evidence from the cellphones.

During the investigation, the officer was advised by dispatch that the wife had called 911 again saying that Cochran was continuously calling her, “threatening to shoot her and threating to shoot officers,” the affidavit said. Officers went to the white truck, where Cochran and the two people he’d arrived with were still waiting.

Cochran then reportedly refused to exit the vehicle, at which point he was forcibly removed and taken to jail, where a white powdery substance believed to be cocaine was found on his person.

Bond was set at $50,000 cash only at his initial appearance last Tuesday. He is expected to have a preliminary hearing this week.

The affidavit notes that Cochran has previous convictions for burglary, theft and child abuse involving mental injury.