The family of a man fatally shot by Anchorage police last week is calling on the city to release body-worn camera footage of the incident.
Anchorage Police Chief Bianca Cross initially said the man, 34-year-old Kristopher Handy, pointed a gun at officers before they shot and killed him. But a neighbor later released security footage that she says shows Handy did not raise his gun.
His brother, Travis Handy, said his family is demanding that the police chief or the mayor’s office release the police footage of the shooting to the public — immediately.
“They don’t believe that the video tells the entire story,” he said. “But you know, they have six other videos for body cameras and two dash cameras with different angles of what transpired that night.”
Cross released a statement Thursday saying the security footage, “appears to many to differ from the initial statement we provided regarding the event.” But she also cautioned that video does not capture many details including what happened outside the camera’s view and “the human element of those involved.”
The Handy family said that Cross called them Monday afternoon, and expressed her condolences over the death of Kristopher Handy. She also reiterated that the police body camera footage would only be released once an internal and state investigation on the shooting is completed.
APD spokeswoman Renee Oistad said Cross was following the department’s standard process for notifying the community of an officer-involved shooting when she held a press conference last Monday, before reviewing the body camera footage.
“We will review that process,” Oistad added.
Organizers are planning a rally for Kristopher Handy on Saturday at 2 p.m. to call on the police department to release the body camera footage of his shooting. It is set to start at the Martin Luther King Jr. Living Memorial downtown.
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.
