Anchorage officer fatally shoots woman after downtown standoff

An Anchorage police officer shot and killed a woman at a downtown apartment building on Aug. 18, ending an attempt to negotiate. Police Chief Sean Case said the department had crisis negotiators, a Mobile Intervention Team for de-escalation and SWAT on scene and still could not stop the outcome.

Case said the call came at 1:34 that afternoon from the Adelaide, a multi-unit building at 9th and Cordova, reporting an intoxicated adult female threatening suicide by gun. Officers were told en route that the woman had pointed a gun at the caller and another staff member, which Case said amounted to felony weapons offenses. Officers arrived at 1:40 and told her over loudspeakers she was under arrest.

Negotiators reached her in short spurts by loudspeaker and phone, though none of the contact was meaningful, Case said. Police evacuated most of the building, staged drones, a ballistic vehicle and less-lethal tools, meant to stop without killing, and warned the school across the street to keep students inside.

At about 2:01 the woman appeared at a third-story window. "The subject was seen in the window and pointing the gun in the direction of officers as well as the school," Case said. "One single officer fired a single round striking the subject in the upper body. Officers made entrance into the apartment where the female was pronounced deceased on scene." No less-lethal options were used and the shot came from ground level.

"We had the right personnel, we had the right equipment, we had containment, we had communication, evacuation," Case said. "Sometimes you just can't control everything."

Case said the account is preliminary, drawn from body and dash cameras and dispatch records, and that the involved officer has not yet been interviewed. No account from the woman's family or the building appears in the briefing. The department says it was the seventh officer-involved shooting of 2026 and put the officer on administrative leave.

The state Office of Special Prosecutions reviews APD shootings for justification, followed by an internal affairs review. On Sept. 9, prosecutors cleared three Anchorage officers in the May 19 fatal shooting of Emil McCord, one of at least 22 completed state reviews of Alaska police shootings since 2024, none resulting in criminal charges.

The shooting comes amid a broader use-of-force review the Municipality of Anchorage commissioned in August 2024. The firm 21CP Solutions examined 11 Anchorage officer-involved shootings from January 2024 through May 2025 and flagged areas for improvement in handling behavioral health crises. APD says it has integrated 49 of the more than 50 recommendations made.