APD: Man who shot at officers surrenders to SWAT team

A man who fired at officers in East Anchorage early Friday has surrendered to a SWAT team, police said in a 6:35 a.m. alert.

Officers originally responded about 12:40 a.m. to reports of a “disturbance” involving gunfire in the 1500 block of Hoyt Street, just south of DeBarr Road near Bragaw Street, according to the alert.

When police tried to do a welfare check on the trailer, 36-year-old Jose Evangelista began firing at the officers, police said. One of the officers had to duck out of the way to avoid being hit by a bullet, Anchorage Police Department spokesman MJ Thim said.

Neighboring residences were evacuated, police said.

“He was terrorizing the neighborhood,” Thim said. “He almost killed them and he almost killed our officers, that’s how close of a call that came to be.”

SWAT responded to the scene after Evangelista ignored officers’ commands and refused to come out of the trailer or surrender his gun, police said. None of the officers fired back, according to Thim.

After a standoff lasting about a five hours, Evangelista surrendered and was later charged with multiple crimes, including three counts of third-degree assault, Thim said.

“We were able to end this safely without any injury to the public or our officers,” he said.

Check back for updates on this developing story.