Police shoot and critically injure man near East Anchorage gas station

Anchorage police shot and critically wounded a man in East Anchorage early Monday after they say he fired at them. 

The man is the fifth person shot by Anchorage officers during a police response since mid-May. Three of those people have died.

The most recent shooting happened around 5:15 a.m. Monday. Anchorage Police Chief Sean Case said officers were dispatched to a Circle K gas station on Bragaw Street near Debarr Road for a reported disturbance between two people.

“What was reported to us is that there was a shotgun involved,” Case said at a press conference Monday. “So that’s the information that we had before officers arrived on scene. And we also had information that at least one shot was fired prior to our arrival in that disturbance.”

Almost immediately after officers responded, at least one shot was fired at them, according to a police statement.

“A confrontation ensued wherein two officers ultimately discharged their weapons,” it said.

Case said the officers shot the man at least two times. 

He was hit once in the lower body and once in the upper body and was brought to a hospital, “with what are believed to be life-threatening injuries,” according to the police statement.

Case said no charges have been filed involving the incident at this time. No officers were injured.

The two officers who fired their weapons have been placed on administrative leave for four days, in line with department policy. The shooting will be investigated by the state Office of Special Prosecutions and APD’s internal affairs unit. 

According to the statement on Monday, several business parking lots along Bragaw Street have been closed south of its intersection with DeBarr Road, where it passes a Costco warehouse.

Case said police are interviewing several witnesses, and the shooting was captured on police body and dash cameras. 

Case said the department has recently updated its policy regarding the release of body camera footage of “critical incidents.” He said the policy is being reviewed by the city’s legal team, and this shooting will fall under the new policy. 

“There’s gonna be time specifics within the policy,” Case said. “And anything that falls outside of those specific times, we will give the media and the public reasons as to why we weren’t able to hit that that day.”

Case did not elaborate on the timing of the release of body camera footage. 

This is the first police shooting since Case took over as police chief. His immediate predecessor, acting chief Bianca Cross, faced criticism over a lack of clarity on when body camera footage of police shootings would be released and demands for the release of footage by the family of one of the men killed by police. 

Case said the Anchorage police will hold another press conference on Thursday with more information on Monday morning’s shooting, as the investigation continues.