Suspect in custody after Anchorage SWAT team responds to standoff

Update 10:30 a.m. Wednesday:

Police identified the suspect as 34-year-old Christopher Dickson and said he faces multiple charges including second- and third-degree assault.

Investigators believe alcohol and drugs were involved based on drug paraphernalia collected at the scene and Dickson's visible signs of intoxication, Anchorage Police Department MJ Thim said Wednesday.

Tuesday story:

An Anchorage SWAT team stormed a Spenard apartment where a man suspected of shooting another man with a BB gun Tuesday had holed up for hours, refusing to come out.

The man was taken into custody around around 8 p.m., Anchorage Police Department spokesman MJ Thim said. At 8:45 p.m., police said that residents could return to the area.

Thim said the incident was "alcohol related," but did not elaborate.

Police had asked the public to avoid the area of West 26th Avenue and Arctic Boulevard around 4 p.m. Tuesday, after officers got a call about shots fired at Glenwood Apartments on West 26th Avenue.

A man told police he had been shot in the leg with a BB gun and "had been cut," police said. His injuries were treated at the scene.

The suspect, alone in an apartment, refused to come out, police said.

"He is suspected of shooting and cutting the victim and he also has an outstanding felony warrant for his arrest," police said in an alert.

Kim Kingsford said that she lives in the apartment complex below the suspect.

The man had come by her apartment earlier in the day, Kingsford said. He walked into her apartment, which she said must have been unlocked. He was carrying a BB gun and asked for a cigarette, Kingsford said, adding that the encounter seemed "weird."

"My roommate made him get out … we knew that he was wanted by the police," Kingsford said. They pushed him out of the room and locked the door, she said.

Later in the day, Kingsford was mixing up yellow cake batter when the commotion began.

"I heard arguing upstairs, and a little while later I heard a gunshot that sounded, like, real," she said.

Then someone called to tell her that her road was blocked off, and her building surrounded by police.

"Police come to our building all the time … but this, this is crazy. This has never happened," Kingsford said.

By 6:30 p.m., numerous marked and unmarked police vehicles filled neighboring business parking lots. Officers in SWAT gear walked to an armored vehicle. Some bystanders stood on the sidewalk near West 26th and Arctic, waiting to see what happened.

Glenwood Apartments has 17 units, landlord Doug Griffin said. Griffin said this was the biggest police response he had seen in the two years he's owned the building.

Roy Buckalew said that he lives in the apartment next door to the suspect. Around 3:50 p.m., Buckalew heard some commotion from the man's room.

Buckalew said he spoke with the suspect briefly in the hallway. The man appeared upset, Buckalew said, although Buckalew didn't know why.

Buckalew walked to buy a newspaper, then stopped at a nearby bank when he saw sirens flashing. He returned to West 26th to find his apartment had been cordoned off.

By 6 p.m., Buckalew had been waiting outside his apartment building for about two hours.