Two Anchorage police officers exchanged gunfire late Wednesday with a man at an East Anchorage campground nearly 200 homeless people are camping, sending the man and one officer to a hospital, according to police.
Both are expected to survive, police said in a written statement.
The two officers were patrolling the area and were not responding to a call, police said. About 180 houseless people are currently staying there since the city closed a mass shelter, cleared homeless camps and directed campers to Centennial, according to Parks and Rec safety director Mike Braniff.
It was about 8 p.m. when the officers encountered a man they suspected of having eluded police earlier, police said. The man produced a handgun, and, the police statement said, “gunfire was exchanged” between the officers and the man.
The officers shot the man multiple times, and one of the officers was shot. Both the officer and the suspect were taken to a hospital and are expected to survive.
Police Chief Michael Kerle said police investigating the shooting do not yet have information about who shot first.
“It’s still a preliminary investigation,” Kerlesaid at an 11:30 p.m. Wednesday press conference at police headquarters in downtown Anchorage.
James Keele, a camper at Centennial, described the incident. Keele said he was sitting behind his tent when he saw a man he recognized running toward a blue van. Two police officers were chasing him, Keele said.
The next thing Keele knew, the man pulled out a gun.
“He was shooting both ways, like toward me, toward the cops,” Keele said. “So many people could have got hurt. It’s so scary, man.”
Keele guessed he heard 10 shots as he ran away from the gunfire.
“The officer got shot, he went down and he had a big ol’ hole on his side,” Keele said. “I thought he was gonna die.”
Keele said he is trying to move out of the campground to somewhere he feels safe but doesn’t have enough money to pay for gas to move his car.
The police statement said charges are expected to be filed against the man, who has not been publicly identified.
Per department policy, Kerle said the names of the officers involved in the shooting will be withheld for 72 hours and they will be on administrative leave for four days.
The state Office of Special Prosecutions will review the officers’ use of force to determine whether it was justified.
Mayor Dave Bronson’s administration opened Centennial Campground for homeless campers and bused some there around the same time it shut down the city’s Sullivan Arena, which had served as an emergency mass shelter since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Since then, the administration has drawn criticism from advocates for what they say is a lack of oversight and supplies, and unsafe conditions.
Last weekend, a fight at the campground drew a large police response and resulted in multiple officers being assaulted, the Anchorage Daily News reported. The campground has also been the site of dozens of police calls since the city started waiving fees and directed people experiencing homelessness there a few weeks ago. State biologists and wildlife troopers have also killed five bears that have come into the campground looking for food, in campers’ tents in some cases.
This story has been updated with new information and with a current estimate of the number of campers staying at the campground.
Lex Treinen is covering the state Legislature for Alaska Public Media. Reach him at ltreinen@gmail.com.
