State clears three Anchorage officers in the fatal shooting of Emil McCord

Officers responded to a 911 call about a man firing shots into the air at Bragaw Street and Reka Drive around midnight on May 19. The state says McCord, 33, walked toward officers holding a handgun, was ordered to drop it several times, then pointed it at them. He was struck multiple times and pronounced dead at a hospital.

APD said in May that its Internal Affairs unit would review the officers' actions for policy violations only after the state's criminal review concluded. That review is now over, clearing the way for the internal one, though APD has not said when it will begin or finish.

This is the third police shooting review the office has completed in 2026, after ones in Anchor Point and Fairbanks. All three cleared the officers involved, and all three took roughly 100 days.

The clearance lands six days after Anchorage's Municipal Attorney's Office released a consultant's final report on APD's use-of-force policies, prompted by a 2024 shooting. The department says it has adopted 49 of the firm's more than 50 recommendations, including extending paid leave after a shooting from four days to seven. The Assembly's Public Health and Safety Committee takes that report up Wednesday morning at City Hall.

No record reviewed for this story contains any account from McCord's family.