Woman fatally struck by minivan in South Anchorage parking lot was lying down, police say

An incident initially described as a pedestrian fatality Wednesday afternoon in the parking lot of a South Anchorage Walmart involved a woman who was lying on the ground when she was struck, police say.

In an update Thursday morning, the Anchorage Police Department said the woman was killed Wednesday afternoon when a minivan drove over her in the parking lot of the store off the Old Seward Highway.

Anchorage Fire Department medics declared the woman dead soon after they got to the parking lot, police said. No charges had been filed as of Thursday morning, they said.

The woman was “lying on the ground at the east end of a Walmart parking lot aisle” when a woman driving a Toyota Sienna minivan turned into the aisle and drove over her, the update said. It wasn’t clear why the woman was lying on the ground in the parking lot, police said. She has not been identified.

There were witnesses in the area, police spokeswoman Renee Oistad said in an email Thursday. There were no passengers in the van, she said.

Asked if the driver could see the woman on the ground as she turned, Oistad said line of sight will be part of the ongoing investigation.