Fairbanks man killed after trooper opens fire during early-morning pursuit

An Alaska State Trooper shot and killed a man in Fairbanks early Monday morning after a vehicle pursuit lasting roughly 90 seconds ended on a dead-end street and the driver turned the car toward the trooper.

The incident began at approximately 2:56 a.m. on July 7 when a trooper attempted to stop a Ford sedan near Noble Street and Airport Way. The driver refused to stop. The pursuit ended in the 100 block of 5th Avenue, where the sedan drove down a dead-end road and was partially blocked by the trooper's marked patrol vehicle. The driver then drove toward the uniformed trooper, who was issuing commands to stop. The trooper fired, striking the driver. The man was transported to a Fairbanks area hospital and declared dead.

Investigators recovered a handgun at the scene. The man's name is being withheld pending next-of-kin notification, and his body has been sent to the State Medical Examiner's Office for autopsy.

The Alaska Bureau of Investigation assumed case responsibility and is conducting what the Department of Public Safety described as a thorough investigation. Once that investigation is complete, the Alaska Office of Special Prosecutions will conduct an independent review. That two-step process is standard procedure for officer-involved shootings in Alaska: the bureau investigates, and a separate prosecutorial unit decides whether charges are warranted.

The trooper who fired has been placed on seven days of administrative leave. The trooper's name is set to be released within 72 hours of the July 7 posting.

Second Fairbanks Fatality in Two Weeks

This shooting is the second officer-involved fatality in Fairbanks in less than two weeks. On June 28, a suspect was shot in the Bentley Mall parking lot by two Fairbanks Police Department officers and one Alaska State Trooper and later died at Fairbanks Memorial Hospital, according to a Fairbanks Police Department press release. That case remains an active investigation.

The Alaska Bureau of Investigation's findings in the July 7 shooting will determine what, if anything, the Office of Special Prosecutions takes up next.