Suspect remains at large after fatal shooting of apartment complex employee, police say

A shooting Monday afternoon at a large Midtown apartment complex fatally wounded a 34-year-old employee of the company that owns the buildings.

No arrests had been made as of Wednesday morning, Anchorage police said. They identified the suspect late Tuesday as 27-year-old Jesse Lee Jones and said his whereabouts were unknown.

Anchorage police on Wednesday morning identified the man who died as 34-year-old Josiah Goecker.

The shooting occurred in the leasing office of the Alpine Apartments, according to Greg Cerbana, the vice president of public relations for building owner Weidner Apartment Homes. He described Goecker as a “longtime employee that was well-loved and respected.”

Officers responding just after 3:45 p.m. to the apartments on Mockingbird Drive found Goecker dead with “at least one gunshot wound to the upper body,” the Anchorage Police Department said in an update late Monday. The department’s SWAT team searched for a suspect Monday, with armed officers clearly visible to numerous onlookers.

The search for a suspect closed roads in the area, preventing some residents from returning home Monday afternoon and evening. As the situation unfolded, police asked people in the area to follow officers’ instructions including evacuating if necessary, though most residents were being asked to shelter in place. Anyone who wanted to leave was escorted out, police spokeswoman Renee Oistad said Tuesday.

There are 387 units in the apartment complex, Cerbana said.

Police on Tuesday provided little additional information about the circumstances surrounding the shooting. Before Jones was identified late in the day, Oistad declined to provide any suspect information Tuesday morning, citing the ongoing investigation.

“While the motive for the shooting remains under investigation, and leads are being followed up on, police believe this was an isolated event and not random,” the police update said.

The police department’s special operations unit responded to the apartment complex Monday, including SWAT as well as technical support, crisis negotiation and mobile intervention teams, police said. Unit members left the area about seven hours later, according to the update.

The shooting is Anchorage’s 17th homicide so far this year.

Police asked anyone with information regarding this incident, including surveillance footage of the area, to call APD Dispatch at 3-1-1 (option #1) or 907-786-8900 (option #0).