APD names officer who fired gun in police fatal shooting of teenager

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Anchorage police have released the name of the officer who fired his weapon in Tuesday night's shooting that killed a teenage girl in a university neighborhood.

According to APD, Officer Alexander Roman “fired his weapon” during the fatal incident in which 16-year-old Easter Leafa died.

The department said Roman has been with APD since December 2017.

Roman was one of several officers who responded to a call from Leafa's sister, who was reportedly carrying a knife when police arrived. Police did not release the names of other officers who arrived at the scene.

According to APD, the shooting occurred around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday when police were called to the Greenbriar Apartments near Tudor Road.

The caller said her sister Easter had threatened her and had a knife with her.

According to Anchorage Police Chief Sean Case, when officers arrived at the apartment, they ordered Leafa to drop the knife, but she did not.

Case said that at that point, one officer shot Leafa multiple times and another officer fired a “less lethal projectile.”

Case explained that Leafa was walking toward the police when they decided to shoot her.

Easter's family says she and her mother moved to Anchorage from American Samoa four or five months ago to join an extended family network of aunts, cousins, sisters and uncles. They were excited for her to begin her penultimate year at Bettye Davis East High School, and they described Easter as a quiet person who enjoyed singing and being with his nieces and nephews.

The president of the Anchorage Police Department Employees Association criticized Anchorage Mayor Suzanne LaFrance's response to recent police shootings, writing in a letter Friday that each incident has more nuance than appears to the public.

Several vigils and demonstrations were planned to protest Leafa's death and the five other police shootings that have occurred in Anchorage since May 13 of this year – including one held by Anchorage's Samoan community and other activists outside the downtown Anchorage Police Department headquarters on Saturday morning.

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