Man dead in Fifth Avenue collision following gunfire

Anchorage police said a 19-year-old man died Friday after the sedan he was riding in crashed head-on with a pickup truck on Fifth Avenue, near Merrill Field. Police suspect the sedan was involved in a shooting before it crashed.

Jennifer Castro, police spokesperson, said the sedan was headed west on Fifth Avenue shortly after 3 a.m. when it crossed the median and slammed into a pickup truck that was heading east. The street is one of the busiest in Anchorage, though at 3 a.m. traffic is very light.

Chaduer Chuol, 19, was ejected from the sedan and pronounced dead at the hospital. Another man in the car, whom police have not identified, suffered a gunshot wound. Police said the man was taken to a hospital for treatment and his wound was not life-threatening.

Police said the shooting preceded the crash. Police said they received several 911 calls from people who said they heard shots in the area. A bullet was found in an outer wall of the Castle Megastore, on the north side of Fifth Avenue about a block east of the crash site, Castro said. The store was closed at the time.

"They did have a bullet that had struck that store," she said. "It's likely correlated with the crash as well."

Police believe the pickup truck was not involved in the shooting.

Castro said Chuol's death is being investigated as a homicide. There have been 22 homicides in Anchorage so far this year and two men have been shot and killed by police officers, according to Castro.

Five of the homicides occurred in the past week.

About an hour before the head-on crash Friday, police received 911 calls about a stabbing in East Anchorage. Allen Raymond, 19, was stabbed multiple times during a possible home invasion and died from his injuries. A week earlier, on July 29, police found Treyveonkindell Thompson, 21, shot dead in Muldoon. The next morning, someone dropped Elijah Zeller, 18, off at a hospital, bleeding from a gunshot wound and he died hours later. On Sunday morning, Xeryus Tate, 17, was found dead in the street in East Anchorage, and an Anchorage man, Deandrew Walker-Webster, surrendered to police Friday to face manslaughter charges.

Castro said there was no indication Friday's shooting and the following car crash were linked to any of this week's violent deaths. Police are asking the public for any information that may be helpful in the investigation to call 907-786-8900. To provide an anonymous tip, people can contact Anchorage Crimestoppers at anchoragecrimestoppers.com or at 907-561-STOP.