Misunderstandings

It all might have stemmed from a case of mistaken sign language. That's what police are saying about a brawl involving five men and a gun that went off Sunday night outside a Papa John's pizza store in east Anchorage.

Raymond Keith McWain, 26, had just turned from Mountain View Drive onto Boniface Parkway when he noticed a truck with three men alongside his car. One of the truck occupants is deaf and mute. The deaf man was communicating with the other two in the truck through American Sign Language, a written police statement said.

McWain thought the sign language gestures were some sort of slight or "disrespect" toward him, police said. So McWain began doing some gesturing of his own. He honked and cut in front of the truck before pulling into the Papa John's pizza store on Boniface, police said. The men in the truck followed.

In the parking lot, McWain and the three men from the truck began pushing and shoving, police said. McWain's cousin, Daniel Harris, 20, who works at Papa John's, came out and began beating the deaf man as the deaf man's companions pummeled McWain.

Multiple shots were fired from at least one gun.

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