Even though he had a broken ankle, a Ninilchik man fought off three suspected burglars when they broke into his girlfriend's home and tried to assault him, Alaska State Trooper Michael Henry said in a criminal complaint. Henry said that Shane Randall sprayed with pepper spray and mace Joshua Moore, 23, Timothy Taylor, 22, and Daniel Soger, 25, when they came up the stairs and tried to assault him. Randall also hit Soger in the side of a head with the blunt end of a hatchet and kicked him down the stairs. Moore fell down the stairs, too, after he tried to grab Randall.

All three fled the home. Troopers charged Moore, Taylor and Soger with two counts each of first-degree burglary, a felony, and fourth-degree assault.

Randall told troopers he was upstairs at his girlfriend's house in Ninilchik about 2 a.m. Oct. 2 when he woke up to his dogs barking and voices outside yelling that he recognized as the men. Randall said he tried to hide upstairs, but before he could hide saw the three men coming up the stairs. After he fought off the men, Randall said they went next door to Moore's parents' home. Randall called 911 and fled into the woods for fear the men would come after him with weapons.

Randall used to live with Moore, his girlfriend's brother. He told troopers that Taylor is the ex-boyfriend of Randall's girlfriend and the father of her child. Randall claimed Taylor had threatened him and that Moore had sent him a text message saying "get the f--- off the peninsula."

Troopers later contacted Moore walking on the road and Soger at his house. Moore said he had gone to his sister's house to bring her some fish and that for no known reason he got pepper sprayed. He said he put the fish in his parents' freezer. When troopers asked the parents to look in the freezer, Moore then changed his story, troopers said. Moore couldn't explain why he didn't call troopers about being attacked.

Moore and Taylor were arrested, and Soger was medevaced to an Anchorage hospital for a skull fracture. Troopers requested an arrest warrant for Soger.

Michael Armstrong can be reached at michael.armstrong.@homernews.com.