Man shot during confrontation with Anchorage police in Midtown hotel

Update, 10 a.m. Thursday: In an update, police named 36-year-old Ryan Hunt as the man they were attempting to arrest at a Midtown hotel on Wednesday afternoon. He was shot by an officer during the encounter and taken to a hospital, although police did not say whether his injuries were from the gunfire or from his attempted escape through a second-story window.

Hunt was in custody Thursday for the third-degree assault warrant stemming from an August charge. Police said the investigation into Wednesday’s encounter ongoing, but additional charges were expected.

Original story

A man was hospitalized after a confrontation with Anchorage police on Wednesday at a Midtown hotel, during which an officer fired his weapon at the man.

Many details were not immediately clear. In a brief news conference Wednesday evening, Anchorage Police Chief Michael Kerle said police received information that a man with a felony warrant was at the Hilton Garden Inn on Union Square Drive. Officers set up a perimeter in the hallway outside a second-floor room, and on the ground outside, police said.

A negotiator with the department spoke briefly with the man on the phone, Kerle said. The man stepped out of the hotel room “with an object in his hand in what appeared to be a shooting stance,” Kerle said. Police did not say what that object was or whether a weapon was recovered at the scene.

One of the officers in the hotel hallway fired his weapon at the man at least once, Kerle said. Police did not say how many times the weapon was fired. The man retreated into the room and then jumped out of the second-floor window, police wrote.

The man was detained and treated for wounds to his upper body, police said. At the news conference, Kerle said police don’t know whether those injuries were caused by the officer’s gunfire, jumping out the window, “or both.” The man was taken to a local hospital, police said. Kerle described his wounds as non-life threatening.

Kerle said police found a woman who had been injured in the hotel room. She had “serious visible” wounds to her face, Kerle said, and was also taken to a hospital.

No officers were injured in the confrontation, Kerle said. The officer who fired his weapon will be placed on administrative leave for four days, and his name will be released after 72 hours per department policy, Kerle said.

None of the officers who responded to the hotel were equipped with body cameras, Kerle said.

Alaska’s Office of Special Prosecutions will review the officer’s use of force, Kerle said. Once that review is done, the Anchorage Police Department will review the officer’s actions as well to determine if there was a violation of policy, Kerle said.