Anchorage police kill man in Huffman area, saying he fired a gun during a struggle

An Anchorage police officer shot and killed a man Thursday afternoon in South Anchorage's Huffman Business Park after, police say, the man fired a gun while struggling with another officer.

The account so far comes from the Anchorage Police Department. Police Chief Sean Case, who briefed reporters Thursday evening, called it preliminary and said he had not yet seen body camera video from the first officer who confronted the man.

According to the department, the case began with a burglary call at a business on Lore Road about 10:05 am. Case said police used "a whole host of technologies" to locate the man at Carrs Huffman, along with security video from the business and from inside the store, which showed him leave through the back door. Police pinpointed his location at Carrs about 1:25 pm, Case said, and identified him on video about 10 minutes later.

Officers found clothing he had worn during the burglary and discarded, along with items taken in the burglary, and a witness pointed them toward him, Case said.

About 1:41 pm, an officer confronted the man, who was on foot, at 12201 Industry Way, and the two ended up struggling on the ground.

"The suspect produced a gun and fired a single round," Case said. A second officer, arriving at that moment, fired once and hit the man, police said. The officer on the ground did not fire. Police have not said whether the man's shot hit anything. No officers were hurt. Officers gave first aid, but the man died at the scene.

Body and dash cameras recorded the shooting, Case said, and private cameras may have as well. He said the call could have gone wrong within seconds but for the officers' "amazing, decisive actions."

Police have not named the man, the business or the officers, and Case said he had not looked up the man's criminal history. The department says it will name the officer who fired 72 hours after the shooting.

Case said police are holding back some details to "preserve those officers telling the story from their memory." He said more would come at a news conference in about a week, including how officers used technology to find the man. The department has been building a surveillance network that includes license plate readers and a registry of private security cameras. Beyond the security video, it hasn't said which tools it used in this case. Its release said a drone might be used in the area during the investigation.

The state Office of Special Prosecutions will decide whether the shooting was justified. As of September, that office had reviewed at least 22 police shootings in Alaska since 2024, charging no one, including the officers who shot and killed Emil McCord in May.

By mid-September, Anchorage police had counted eight officer-involved shootings this year. Under rules adopted after an outside review of the department's use of force, officers who fire now get seven days off and a mental health check before returning to work, up from four days.