The third person this year has been shot and killed by Anchorage police.
It happened in the Fairview neighborhood of Anchorage, Monday night. Anchorage Police Department Chief Mark Mew says that a lone officer pulled over a vehicle and the driver came at the officer with, “two bladed weapons.”
“Monday night, June 24th, at about 6:30 p.m. an officer stopped his patrol car on a vehicle in Fairview in the vicinity of 12th and Hyder and confronted a man there who was armed with a couple of weapons,” Mew said. “We’re not describing the weapons in any detail today, but they were bladed weapons, and a shooting occurred.”
“The person was struck and ultimately died at the hospital.”
The man killed has been identified as 26-year-old Kenneth John.
Several witnesses are being interviewed. An investigation will be done by the Office of Special Prosecutions and Appeals.
There have been five APD officer involved shootings so far this year, three of them fatal. Because of the increasing number of APD officer involved shootings, the department’s ‘use of force’ policy is under review and changes are expected later this year.
Daysha Eaton is a contributor with the Alaska Public Radio Network.
Daysha Eaton holds a B.A. from Evergreen State College, and a M.A. from the University of Southern California. Daysha got her start in radio at Seattle public radio stations, KPLU and KUOW. Before coming to KBBI, she was the News Director at KYUK in Bethel. She has also worked as the Southcentral Reporter for KSKA in Anchorage.
Daysha's work has appeared on NPR's "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered", PRI's "The World" and "National Native News". She's happy to take assignments, and to get news tips, which are best sent via email.
Daysha became a journalist because she believes in the power of storytelling. Stories connect us and they help us make sense of our world. They shed light on injustice and they comfort us in troubled times. She got into public broadcasting because it seems to fulfill the intention of the 4th Estate and to most effectively apply the freedom of the press granted to us through the Constitution. She feels that public radio has a special way of moving people emotionally through sound, taking them to remote places, introducing them to people they would not otherwise meet and compelling them to think about issues they might ordinarily overlook.
