A man shot and critically injured by Anchorage police on Monday morning had fired a shotgun at officers and threatened others, according to a charging document.
According to a criminal complaint filed this week, officers were called by an employee of a Circle K gas station on Bragaw Street who said that a man in camouflage clothing was yelling at another customer while holding a shotgun.
“What we know prior to the call is that there are two males that get involved in a verbal altercation that eventually resulted in both of them pointing firearms at each other,” Anchorage Police Chief Sean Case said at a press conference Thursday afternoon.
The man was later identified as 51-year-old Damien Dollison.
Surveillance footage from the gas station showed Dollison arriving at the gas station at around 2:30 a.m. Monday, according to charges. After buying a drink and staying parked for about 30 minutes, Dollison was seen driving away and later walking back to the gas station on foot, with a shotgun, the complaint said.
Officers interviewed a witness who said that Dolison had pointed a shotgun at his truck window and told him to get out. The witness said “he assumed it was a carjacking, so prior to getting out of the truck he grabbed his handgun,” according to the complaint. After a standoff, Dollison fired a shot at the witness, who attempted to fire back at Dollison, according to charges, but his safety was on. After another standoff at the entrance to the gas station, where Dollison and the witness had “an exchange of words,” the witness said the two agreed to drop their weapons and leave, according to the complaint.
Police arrived and found Dollison walking through a nearby parking lot. As officers approached Dollison, the complaint says, he pointed the shotgun at them and fired a shot. Case said officers responded by shooting at Dollison while still inside their vehicle.
“I believe that rounds went through the windshield,” Case said. “The officer exited the car and fired a few more rounds. And those rounds, probably were the ones that struck, but the initial rounds from that officer were fired through the windshield as he was approaching.”
Dollison was charged with three counts of felony assault and remained hospitalized as of Wednesday. His criminal hearing is scheduled for Thursday.
On Thursday morning, Anchorage police named Jacob Jones and Brandon Stack as the officers who fired on Dollison. Jones is one of four officers who shot 34-year-old Kristopher Handy in May. Handy died at the scene. Officers claimed he pointed a long gun at them before they fired, however security footage of the incident has called that narrative into question.
Case said he understands the public’s concern over one officer being involved in two shootings, but also noted the impact on the officer.
“It’s a tough thing to go through, to be involved in traumatic incidents like that in a short period of time,” Case said. “So that’s concern number one. And then, you know, from an administrative perspective, we do our due diligence and resume reviewing all these shootings to make sure that all the actions conduct are appropriate.”
There have been five police shootings in Anchorage since mid-May, with three people dying as a result. Case says the city typically sees three police shootings a year. These recent police shootings have been the first since officers were equipped with body cameras. Police have not released any footage of the shootings despite calls from the public. Case said the department is working on a new policy for the release of footage of “critical incidents” like police shootings. He says it’ll be released to the public next week.
The Anchorage Assembly is also weighing in on how body camera footage should be released. The body is set to vote on a resolution next Tuesday night that would, among other things, request that APD release the footage of the Kris Handy shooting to the Handy family so they could view it for free and call for the release of all body camera footage of police shootings within 30 days of the resolution passing.
This story has been updated with comments from APD Chief Sean Case.
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.
