An Anchorage Daily News carrier was assaulted by three men during an early-morning delivery in East Anchorage, police say.
:quality(70)/s3.amazonaws.com/arc-wordpress-client-uploads/adn/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/25074546/31135851_10214571254066875_2124109621_o.jpg)
The man, who was not identified, later said the attack occurred at 3:30 a.m. Tuesday in the area of 4th Avenue and Capricorn Circle, but didn't report the crime right away, according to an Anchorage Police Department spokesman. He was hospitalized with lacerations, but his wounds are not life threatening, police said.
Residents of an apartment building in the 5300 block of East Fourth Avenue called 911 around 7 a.m. after they found a trail of blood in the hallway and at least two bloody papers the man had delivered before leaving, spokesman MJ Thim said Wednesday.
Patrol officers located the carrier at his residence on Klevin Street around 8 a.m., police say. He told them three white males attacked him in the area of Fourth Avenue and Capricorn Circle and then he kept delivering newspapers on his bike.
"There were residents that had blood on their newspapers," Thim said.
When officers spoke with the carrier, the man was unclear on how the assault happened and why he didn't call 911 right away, he said.
Medics who arrived to treat the man initially thought his wounds were dog bites, Thim said. It wasn't until the man got to Providence Alaska Medical Center that doctors determined the wounds to his upper and lower body came from a knife.
Anchorage Daily News, the state's largest newspaper, relies on about 150 contractors to deliver papers. Often they're out working in the early-morning hours.
A circulation director said he couldn't release any personal information about the man or how long he's delivered papers.
"We wish him a speedy recovery," said Roger Weinfurter, senior vice president of circulation and production.
The police investigation is focused on the area where the man said it occurred: Fourth and Capricorn. They are asking anyone with information or surveillance video to call the APD non-emergency line at 311.