Man who pulled out gun during confrontation with officers shot and killed, Anchorage police say

A man who pulled a gun from his clothing during a confrontation with police late Monday outside the Anchorage Senior Activity Center was fired at by three officers and killed, the police department said.

Officers responded about 9:30 p.m. to a report of gunfire near 19th Avenue and Karluk Street in the Fairview neighborhood, police said in a statement issued Tuesday morning. A passerby identified two men in the senior center parking lot as being involved in the shooting, police said.

One of the men complied with the officers’ instructions and was found in possession of a handgun and detained. The second man did not comply, police said. Officers deployed a police dog at the second man.

“While the K9 had hold of Male #2, Male #2 produced a handgun and ignored multiple commands to drop it,” police said in the statement. “Three officers discharged their weapons, striking Male #2 in the upper body. He was declared deceased at the scene. Neither the K9 nor any officers were injured.”

Police provided no further details surrounding the incident. An investigation at the scene was ongoing early Tuesday.

The shooting is the third involving Anchorage police officers in a month and the second within days.

Police responding to a fatal shooting in a downtown Anchorage parking lot early Saturday said they shot and injured a 22-year-old now facing charges in the incident that killed one man and left another injured. Officials say they are reviewing hundreds of bystander videos as part of the investigation.

On May 13, Anchorage police officers shot and killed a man outside a West Anchorage apartment building after, police said, he raised a gun toward them. Police have declined to release body camera video from officers during the ongoing investigation despite public requests to do so after a video surfaced raising questions about whether the man was raising the weapon when he was shot.

The state Office of Special Prosecutions is reviewing Monday night’s shooting to determine whether it was justified, police said. Once that investigation is finished, the police department’s internal affairs division will conduct a review for policy violations.

The officers involved in the shooting will be placed on four days of administrative leave under department practice, police said. Their names will be released three days after the incident, they said.