Two Wasilla police officers are on paid administrative leave after a Monday shooting that left one man dead. The names of the officers have not been released, in line with police policy.
According to Wasilla police, the two officers responded to a possible domestic disturbance in the early hours of Monday. The officers had responded to a 911 call, which had been disconnected. The two officers had to force their way into the home, where they encountered 23-year-old Michael Bonty, holding a weapon and threatening a female in the house. Bondy refused to put the weapon down, and officers fired, killing him.
Alaska State Troopers are heading the investigation. Police policy requires names of the officers involved in the shooting to be released 72 hours after the incident. Bonty’s only police record is for minor traffic offenses.
APTI Reporter-Producer Ellen Lockyer started her radio career in the late 1980s, after a stint at bush Alaska weekly newspapers, the Copper Valley Views and the Cordova Times. When the Exxon Valdez ran aground in Prince William Sound, Valdez Public Radio station KCHU needed a reporter, and Ellen picked up the microphone.
Since then, she has literally traveled the length of the state, from Attu to Eagle and from Barrow to Juneau, covering Alaska stories on the ground for the AK show, Alaska News Nightly, the Alaska Morning News and for Anchorage public radio station, KSKA
elockyer (at) alaskapublic (dot) org | 907.550.8446 | About Ellen
