A man was shot by an Anchorage police officer after he ran at an officer with a knife, according to police

Updated: 51 seconds ago Published: 11 Hours ago

A man was shot by an Anchorage police officer Sunday night after he attacked the officer with a knife, police said.

It was the fifth fatal shooting by an Anchorage police officer this year.

Officers were called to an address in the 500 block of North Park Street in the Mountain View neighborhood by someone saying there was an emergency and someone was injured, police said in a summary.

The man who was shot Sunday was also the person who made that report in “multiple calls” to 911, police spokeswoman Renee Oistad said in an email Monday.

“Even before they arrived, officers recognized that this was potentially a mental health crisis call and decided to contact the Mobile Intervention Team (MIT),” Oistad wrote in an email. “They waited to make initial contact until the right resources were deployed.”

The team works with police officers and mental health professionals to respond to calls that may involve mental health issues.

Oistad did not answer further questions about why authorities believed it was a mental health crisis or whether there was actually a separate emergency situation. Police found no injuries at the scene, she said.

An officer arrived at the location and parked on Hoyt Street to wait for backup, she said. While other officers and the mobile team were en route, a man began walking toward the officer with a black-handled knife about 12 inches long, Oistad said.

At that point, the officer got out of his vehicle, gave the man commands and began to back away from him, Police Chief Sean Case said during a late-night news conference.

“As the officer backed away from the subject, the male ran toward the officer,” Case said. “The officer fired his weapon, striking the suspect at least once in the upper body.”

The man was pronounced dead at a hospital, police said.

At the time of the shooting, “officers did not know that the person was the same person as the person who made the 911 call, but eventually that was discovered,” Oistad said.

Case said the shooting occurred “in a very short period of time.”

Oistad did not answer further questions about the timing, whether there were other people in the area at the time of the shooting, what brought the man with the knife to the area or whether the officer attempted to give commands to the man from his vehicle before he got out.

The officer was not immediately identified. The shooting was captured on the officer's body-worn camera and a patrol car dashboard camera, police said.

Case said during the news conference that the call highlighted the challenging situations police face on a daily basis.

“I can’t emphasize enough how important it is that people respond to officers’ commands so that tragedies like this don’t happen.”

Anchorage police have shot eight people, injured three and killed five so far this year. A 16-year-old girl with a knife was shot dead last month in the apartment she shared with her family.

Previous reporting: Since 2000, Anchorage police have killed 34 people. Here's what we know about the deadly encounters and why the department is conducting its own analysis.

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