Anchorage mayor, police chief announce reforms amid mounting scrutiny, anguish over girl’s shooting death by police

Anchorage’s mayor and police chief promised a series of investigations and reforms Thursday amid rising scrutiny and anguish over the shooting death of a 16-year-old girl by officers earlier this week.

“We are here today on what should have been a 16-year-old’s last day of summer break before her junior year,” Mayor Suzanne LaFrance said during a news conference at police headquarters Thursday. “As a community member, as mayor, as a mom of a 16-year-old, I am heartbroken that we have lost such a young life in our community.”

“To the family of Easter Leafa, I am so incredibly sorry for your loss,” LaFrance said. “This young woman deserved to be safe in our community, and you deserved so much more time with her.”

The promises include a third-party examination of what has led to a record string of killings of citizens by Anchorage police officers — a growing crisis that reached a breaking point Tuesday night when Leafa was killed in her family’s East Anchorage apartment.

Police had been called to the apartment for a domestic disturbance, Chief of Police Sean Case said. Police said Leafa was holding a knife and did not obey commands to drop it. One responding officer shot Leafa as another fired less-lethal munitions, Case said.

Leafa had recently moved to Alaska from American Samoa and wasn’t yet fully conversant in English, her family said. She was the sixth person shot by Anchorage police since May, and the fourth to be killed.

At the news conference Thursday, Case acknowledged that the number of recent police shootings was “well outside the average that we’re used to seeing in Anchorage.”

“I know that many community members are concerned,” he said. “As are we.”

“We’ve got to figure out what is going on,” LaFrance said Thursday. “These investigations are about getting a clear understanding of the facts and charting a path forward for the department and entire community,”

[An overview of Anchorage police shootings in 2024]

The reforms announced Thursday include:

• Instead of the usual police department internal investigation, an outside investigator will look at the Aug. 13 shooting of Leafa. The state Office of Special Prosecutions will continue to oversee the investigation into whether criminal charges should be filed against the police officers involved in the incident.

• An outside group will examine the Anchorage Police Department’s policies and produce a report on how the department can reduce police shootings. The municipal attorney’s office will be in charge of selecting a third-party entity to oversee the investigation, which will look beyond what is legally permissible by sworn police officers, as internal investigations and courts do, according to the announcement. The report will be public.

• The police department will establish a community advisory committee that will “provide the community a formal role in advising APD.” It’s not yet clear what the citizen committee’s powers will be, who will be on it, or how members will be selected. Amanda Moser, communications director for the administration, said information on the task force will be disclosed soon.

• A police lieutenant has begun reviewing the past 15 years of officer shootings in Anchorage, a project Case said started shortly after he became police chief in July. According to Case, there are an average of three shootings involving Anchorage police in a typical year. Though the review is not complete, Case said there are changes the department plans to begin implementing as a result of its early analysis. A later report will be public.

“I know there is a lot of pain and anger right now, and a lot of work to do to make sure everyone feels safe in our community,” LaFrance said at the press conference. “We must engage with community members to do that, especially members of the BIPOC community, as these shootings disproportionately impact people of color.”

[2 Alaska State Troopers charged with assault for ‘unreasonable’ force during arrest of wrong man]

As news of Leafa’s death spread, questions over the circumstances of the shooting and concern about the number of police shootings grew Thursday, with multiple protests, marches and vigils planned.

A prayer vigil for Leafa organized by the Polynesian Association of Alaska will be held between G and H streets at the Delaney Park Strip at 1 p.m. Friday. The Party for Socialism and Liberation Anchorage also plans to hold a protest at 6 p.m. at 632 W. Sixth Ave. on Friday.

Several Samoan community groups will hold a march for Easter Leafa at 11 a.m. Saturday, starting at police headquarters and ending at Town Square Park. Samoans in Anchorage are reeling over the death, said Maddy Unutoa, a community leader and one of the organizers of the event.

“We want to call the police. We want to call them for help,” she said. What people don’t want to do is summon police and feel they risk another fatal incident unfolding, she said.