Anchorage police on Wednesday identified the man shot and killed by an officer on Sunday as 24-year-old James Afuvai.
Police said they were called to the 500 block of North Park Street in the Mountain View neighborhood on Sunday night by Afuvai, who said “there was an emergency and that someone was hurt.”
Officers recognized before arriving that “this may be a mental health crisis call” and contacted a team that pairs officers with mental health clinicians to respond, a police spokeswoman has said. Officers did not find anyone injured, police said.
An officer who parked on Hoyt Street to wait for backup was approached by a man, later identified as Afuvai, holding a roughly 12-inch knife with a black handle, police said.
The officer got out of his vehicle, gave commands to Afuvai, and started to back away, Chief Sean Case has said. Afuvai “began to run at the officer” and the officer shot him in the upper body at least once, Case said.
Afuvai was declared dead at the hospital, police said.
He is the eighth person to be shot by Anchorage police so far this year. Five people have died and three more were wounded.
Few other details about Afuvai’s shooting had been released by Wednesday.
Citing the ongoing investigation, a department spokeswoman said she could not answer additional questions about the timeline of the shooting, if other people were in the area, if the officer attempted to give commands from his vehicle before exiting, why officers believed a mental health crisis was involved or if there was a separate emergency situation Afuvai was initially calling about.
During an interview Tuesday, Case said police will address outstanding questions and provide an update in “a couple days.” Department spokeswoman Shelly Wozniak on Wednesday said no briefing on the shooting has been scheduled.
Afuvai’s death came a day before police released the body-camera footage of Officer Alexander Roman shooting and killing 16-year-old Easter Leafa in the apartment she shared with her family. Leafa was holding a knife when Roman shot her. The footage showed family members raising concerns with officers in the apartment before the shooting.
Case on Tuesday said he did not draw any similarities between the shootings of Leafa and Afuvai other than that they were both holding a knife.
[Earlier coverage: Since 2000, Anchorage police have killed 34 people. Here’s what we know about the fatal encounters, and why the department is doing its own analysis.]