Sunday, June 17, 2012

Armed standoff in Alaska ends with apparent suicide; 2 officers injured earlier - @adndotcom

Two Alaska State Troopers were shot Sunday morning in Kotzebue, one of them seriously, according to the Kotzebue city attorney, who witnessed the incident.

A standoff with the shooter was on-going as of 2:30 p.m., said Joe Evans, the attorney. Evans was having breakfast with the Kotzebue police chief, Craig Moates, when the chief got the initial call about shots being fired. It's unclear what started the altercation, Evans said.

Initial, unconfirmed reports were that shots were fired from a pickup truck at a city police vehicle while both were in motion, Evans said. The truck then crashed into a guard rail on Ted Stevens Way just outside of town between what are known locally as first and second bridges, he said. Kotzebue police officers and troopers arrived and more shots were fired, he said. One trooper went down and was rushed to the hospital. The other didn't realize he had been shot until someone noticed he was bleeding, and that trooper drove himself to the hospital, Evans said.

A tactical team from Anchorage is headed to Kotzebue to help local authorities get control of the suspect, Evans said.

Trooper spokeswoman Beth Ipsen said a situation was unfolding but she didn't yet have information about what happening.

Reach Lisa Demer at ldemer@adn.com or 257-4390.