Crime & Courts

Alaska state trooper fatally shoots man reportedly wielding harpoon at Kenai Peninsula dipnetting site

An Alaska state trooper shot and killed a man “brandishing a harpoon” at a Kenai Peninsula beach early Monday, the Alaska Department of Public Safety said.

Troopers were called to South Kasilof Beach, a popular dipnetting spot, at 12:19 a.m. Monday for a report that a man armed with a sword was threatening to kill people, the Alaska State Troopers said in an initial account of events. They found the man near a cluster of tents.

The man, carrying a harpoon, charged at a trooper’s patrol vehicle, the dispatch said. The man ”initially retreated,” according to troopers, but when officers “exited the patrol vehicle, he began to charge at them while still brandishing the harpoon and ignoring the Trooper’s commands.”

A trooper shot the man, who was declared dead at the scene, according to the dispatch. His name has not yet been released.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

[Man shot by police in East Anchorage after he fired at them, APD says]

Michelle Theriault Boots

Michelle Theriault Boots is a longtime reporter for the Anchorage Daily News. She focuses on in-depth stories about the intersection of public policy and Alaskans' lives. Before joining the ADN in 2012, she worked at daily newspapers up and down the West Coast and earned a master's degree from the University of Oregon.

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