Man injured in West Anchorage shooting, police say

Police are investigating a shooting at a busy West Anchorage intersection that sent an injured man to the hospital Wednesday afternoon.

Officers were called to the intersection of West 36th Avenue and Arctic Boulevard just before 2 p.m. for a reports of shots fired in traffic, police wrote in an online alert.

Gyun Yoon said he was ringing up a customer at a liquor store and market on the corner of that intersection when he heard a quick succession of gunshots ring out. Yoon said the sounds frightened him because he immediately knew it was gunfire. When he stepped outside the shop shortly afterward, he said, police had arrived at the intersection.

The man who had been shot drove a Dodge Journey to the Midtown Walmart parking lot, said Sgt. Nathan Mitchell. The front passenger window was broken and at least two bullet holes were visible on the door of the SUV as it was loaded onto a tow truck Wednesday afternoon.

The man was taken to a hospital and is now in stable condition, Mitchell said.

No arrests had been made by about 4 p.m., Mitchell said. The shooting was believed to be an isolated incident, he said. Few additional details were immediately available, but Mitchell said the investigation is ongoing.

A portion of Arctic Boulevard and 36th Avenue closed for several hours as police investigated, but the roads reopened just after 4 p.m.

Police are asking anyone with information about the shooting or surveillance footage from the area to call dispatch at 311.

Uncle Leroy’s coffee co-owner Austin Schwartz was in his coffee shop in the strip mall at 36th and Arctic when the shooting happened nearby. He didn’t know anyone had been hurt until later, when a reporter told him. A shooting in a busy business district, in the middle of the day was unsettling, he said.

“It’s definitely disheartening to hear there’s some sort of violent crime right here at the strip mall, where we work. Where so many families come to hang out.”