Anchorage police have made no arrests in three shootings in East Anchorage that happened within 24 hours.
A police spokeswoman said Tuesday morning that they’re still investigating if any of the shootings are connected. Police have not said how many suspects they’re searching for and have not released any suspect descriptions.
The initial two shootings happened within hours of each other Sunday night, police say. The first occurred around 9 p.m., when a woman was shot in the upper body at Creekside Park. The second occurred roughly two and a half hours later. Police responded to another shooting, about two miles away near Russian Jack Springs Park, where they say a man was shot once in the lower body while walking down Pine Street.
In both Sunday shootings, victims said they did not see the shooter, according to police. Police have also said there’s no indication that the victims knew each other. They were both taken to the hospital Sunday with injuries that were not life threatening.
The most recent shooting happened Monday afternoon in Mountain View and prompted police to deploy a SWAT team as they searched for a suspect in the area.
Police say Monday’s male suspect shot another man outside, striking him at least once on the 500 block of North Lane Street. The victim ran away, fleeing into a nearby apartment belonging to people, police say, it appears he did not know. The suspect fired a shot into the building from the outside, striking a small child, according to police. Both victims were brought to a hospital. The extent of their injuries was not known Monday.
On Tuesday, Anchorage police spokeswoman Renee Oistad said she had no updates on the victims’ injuries. She declined to answer other questions about the shooting, including how many suspects police are seeking in the three cases, any suspect descriptions, the status of Tuesday search efforts, whether police believe any or all of the shootings were random or targeted and to what extent they constitute a threat to public safety.
“We have no public safety threat to communicate to the public,” Oistad said in an email.
Police are asking anyone with information on any of the shootings to contact them at 311. Anonymous tips can also be left online at AnchorageCrimeStoppers.com.
Wesley Early covers Anchorage life and city politics for Alaska Public Media. Reach him at wearly@alaskapublic.org and follow him on X at @wesley_early. Read more about Wesley here.
Chris Klint is a web producer and breaking news reporter at Alaska Public Media. Reach him at cklint@alaskapublic.org. Read more about Chris here.
