Trooper fires at armed man outside his Wasilla home after false report

An Alaska State Trooper fired at a man outside a Wasilla home early Sunday, after answering a 911 call that troopers later determined was false. The man was not hit, and no one was injured.

The call came in at 4 a.m. from a man who said he had been assaulted and had walked into the woods to get away, according to the Department of Public Safety. Troopers found him in the backyard of a house near Sprue Avenue and Lucille Street, which was not where he said the assault happened.

Troopers knocked to reach the people inside. A man came out "brandishing a handgun," the department said, and a trooper fired.

Investigators later determined the caller had not been assaulted and was heavily intoxicated.

The department's account does not say whether the man pointed the gun at anyone, how many shots the trooper fired, or whether anyone was arrested. It includes no statement from the man who was fired on or from anyone else in the house.

The Alaska Bureau of Investigation is handling the investigation, and the Office of Special Prosecutions will review its findings independently. The trooper is on seven days of administrative leave under department policy. The department said his name will be released Tuesday.

It is at least the third trooper shooting this summer. A trooper fatally shot Thomas Aquino, 20, of Fairbanks, after a pursuit on July 7, and SWAT members shot and killed Philip Phillips, 58, of Wasilla, near Whittier two days later.