Anchorage police have identified a man officers shot and killed in a traffic stop over a headlight issue Monday night in the city’s Mountain View neighborhood.
Officers shot Utuva Alaelua, 41, after noticing he had a gun in his lap, Anchorage Police Chief Sean Case said at a press conference Tuesday.
Alaelua had allegedly told the officers he didn’t have a gun, Case said. He failed to respond to requests to put his hands up, and an officer fired a single round at him, Case said.
Alaelua died at the scene, police said.
The officer who shot Alaelua was later identified as Carter Mayes, a nearly six-year veteran.
Alealua has the same last name as another man Anchorage police shot and killed this year.
In February, officers shot Puipuia Alaelua, also 41, after he barricaded himself in a room with a woman and three children. Police body camera footage of the incident showed Puipuia holding the woman on top of himself with a gun pointed at her side while laying on the ground before officers shot and killed him.
That’s according to a report from state prosecutors that found the officers were legally justified in shooting Puipuia. They released the report on the February shooting on May 8, four days before Utuva’s fatal shooting.
Anchorage police declined to comment on whether the two men are related. Alaska’s News Source reports that the two were brothers, citing a statement from family members.
Anchorage police have scheduled a follow-up press conference on Utuva Alaelua’s shooting for
Wednesday, May 21. He is the fifth person shot by Anchorage police this year, and the third to have died as a result.
