Two Alaska State Troopers were killed Thursday while conducting an investigation in the Interior Alaska village of Tanana, agency spokeswoman Megan Peters said.
Troopers spokeswoman Megan Peters identified the victims as Sgt. Patrick “Scott” Johnson and Trooper Gabriel “Gabe” Rich, both of the troopers rural unit operating out of Fairbanks.
Authorities are releasing few details. Peters does say one person has been detained.
Peters says the troopers were following up on a Wednesday night report that someone had brandished a gun in the village.
Shots were fired somewhere in the town at about 3 p.m. Thursday, Tanana resident Mary Edwin told the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.
Other troopers had responded to Tanana by 6 p.m., said Edwin, a former schools superintendent.
An Alaska Bureau of Investigation crew was headed to Tanana, Peters said.
Tanana has a population of about 238 people and is located about 130 miles west of Fairbanks. There is no highway leading to the community.
Because of its location two miles west of the junction of the Tanana and Yukon rivers, the community was a trading post for Koyukon and Tanana Athabascans long before European contact, according to a state website.
Community members continue to live a traditional Athabascan lifestyle, including hunting and fishing for their food.
