Anchorage Mayor Suzanne LaFrance has not yet issued an apology to the family of a man who reportedly lunged at a police officer while brandishing a knife, and ended up shot dead, as the officer pulled his weapon out and defended his own life.
Earlier in the summer, LaFrance immediately apologized to the family members of another knife-wielding person, but this time LaFrance has not yet issued a statement that police were wrong to shoot the perpetrator.
The incident went down starting at about 7:12 p.m. on Sept. 29, when Anchorage Police Department officers were dispatched to the 500-block of N. Park Street after a man called 9-1-1 and said there had been an emergency and that someone was hurt. The location of the encounter is in the Mountainview neighborhood, where violent crime is a regular occurrence. The University of Alaska says Mountainview is the most ethnically diverse neighborhood in America. Bystanders said the man was of Samoan heritage.
One officer arrived near the scene and was waiting for backup. Additional officers were en route along with the city’s Mobile Intervention Team when a man suspect holding a knife began to approach the officer.