Anchorage police fatally shoot teen girl who they say was holding a knife

An Anchorage constabulary conveyance astatine nan segment of an officer-involved shooting connected Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (Ava White/Alaska Public Media)

Anchorage constabulary opportunity officers changeable and killed a teenage woman equipped pinch a weapon precocious Tuesday.

The shooting happened successful a vicinity connected nan 4800 artifact of East 43rd Avenue, adjacent nan Alaska Native Medical Center, according to a constabulary statement.

At a brief news convention Wednesday morning, Police Chief Sean Case said that officers had been responding to a “disturbance” betwixt 2 family members astatine astir 11:30 p.m. Tuesday. The caller said her sister had threatened her pinch a knife.

Several officers responded, immoderate of them entering nan flat nan telephone came from, according to nan constabulary statement. 

Officers gave nan woman commands but she approached them still holding nan knife, Case said. At that point, he said, 2 officers opened fire.

“One azygous serviceman fired aggregate rounds,” he said. “A 2nd serviceman fired a information pinch a less-lethal projectile.”

Police and medics treated nan girl, but she died astatine a section hospital.

“The taxable that was changeable was a 16-year-old female,” Case said. “She would person started her inferior twelvemonth successful precocious schoolhouse connected Thursday. This is simply a tragic incident. There’s nary different measurement to picture it. As constabulary officers, we strive to protect quality life and erstwhile we don’t meet that goal, there’s nary different measurement to picture it past it’s tragic.”

Police declined to sanction nan girl, owed to her age. Officials opportunity cipher other successful nan flat aliases immoderate officers were injured.

Case said Anchorage Police Department argumentation calls for officers utilizing less-lethal weapons to beryllium backed up by others pinch lethal force. But, he added, officers person individual discretion successful utilizing those weapons.

“Each serviceman is making a determination to usage nan instrumentality that they person pinch them based connected nan circumstances successful beforehand of them,” he said.

The teen is nan sixth personification changeable by Anchorage constabulary since mid-May and she is nan 4th personification killed aft nan deaths of 34-year-old Kristopher Handy, 21-year-old Tyler May and 58-year-old Lisa Fordyce-Blair. After elaborate reviews authorities prosecutors person declined to record criminal charges against nan officers successful Handy’s shooting, arsenic good as those who changeable May.

Case acknowledged nan rising toll of shootings by Anchorage constabulary this summer.

“We are committed to proceed to proceed to look astatine our training, our tactics, arsenic good arsenic our supervision successful these types of incidents to effort to forestall early officer-involved shootings,” Case said.

The shooting was recorded connected nan officers’ assemblage cameras, Case said, but nan officers progressive successful nan shooting had not yet been interviewed by Wednesday morning.

Per APD policy, nan sanction of nan serviceman who killed nan teenage woman will beryllium released aft 72 hours, and he will beryllium connected administrative time off for 4 days. The authorities Office of Special Prosecutions will analyse nan shooting.

Police planned a 2nd news convention Monday to talk nan incident successful detail.

Alaska Public Media’s Ava White and Wesley Early contributed accusation to this story.

This is simply a processing story. Check backmost for updates.