On Friday, Anchorage police said the man who was shot and killed by officers on Tuesday had charged them with a knife.
Just after 7 p.m. Tuesday, officers Eric Christian and Severin Stalmarck responded to a report of a fight between a man and woman at an apartment on West 32nd Avenue and Arctic Boulevard, the Anchorage Police Department said in a press release Friday afternoon, which Chief Chris Tolley read at a press conference. When the officers arrived, they saw a man standing in an open doorway. As the officers approached, the man -- identified Friday as 49-year-old Herman Bean Jr. -- went back inside, leaving the door open.
When the officers went inside, according to APD, they saw Bean standing near a bedroom doorway holding a "large butcher knife." They could also hear a woman screaming in the bedroom, APD said.
The officers ordered the man to drop the knife, but he "charged the officers while wielding the knife," APD said. The officers fired two shots each at Bean as he got within a few feet of them, APD said.
Other officers arrived at the scene and began life-saving efforts on Bean, who was pronounced dead by medics at the scene, APD said. The woman was not injured.
APD said someone reported to them that Bean had been drinking alcohol earlier in the evening, but did not say who told them that. At Friday's press conference, Tolley said the woman had made the 911 call about the fight.
The state Office of Special Prosecutions and Appeals will determine if the shooting was justified, and APD Internal Affairs will determine whether it followed department policy.
According to Tolley, Christian has been with APD for four years and has previous law enforcement history. Stalmarck has been with APD for eight years. Tolley said neither of the officers have been involved in police shootings before. Stalmarck and Christian have both been placed on temporary administrative leave.