Louis D. Hastings was born in 1943 and worked as a computer programmer in California before relocating to Alaska. He settled in the remote town of McCarthy, a former mining community with a small population. Hastings was known to be reclusive and had expressed strong anti-development sentiments, particularly opposing the construction and operation of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. He harbored beliefs that industrial development was harming the environment and disrupting the Alaskan wilderness.

On March 1, 1983, Hastings initiated a calculated plan to disrupt the Trans-Alaska Pipeline by eliminating potential witnesses in the town of McCarthy. Armed with a .223-caliber Ruger Mini-14 semi-automatic rifle, he methodically shot and killed six residents: Maxine Edwards, Harley King, Les Hegland, Flo Hegland, Tim Nash, and Amy Lou Ashenden Nash. Two other individuals were wounded but survived the attack.

Hastings intended to hijack the weekly mail plane, dispose of the bodies on nearby glaciers, and then use the plane to reach the pipeline, where he planned to sabotage it by crashing an oil tanker into it, causing a massive spill. His plan was thwarted when one of the wounded victims managed to escape and alert authorities. Alaska State Troopers apprehended Hastings as he attempted to flee the area on a snowmobile.

He was charged with six counts of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder. On December 5, 1983, Hastings pleaded no contest to all charges. During sentencing, the court rejected his claim of mental illness, and on July 27, 1984, he was sentenced to 634 years in prison.