A man who is accused of shooting an Anchorage police officer and two other citizens has been identified as 23-year-old Jalen J. Baker. He is now lodged with “three hots and a cot” at the Anchorage Correctional Complex on charges of three counts of Assault 1, one count of Assault 3, Misconduct Involving a Weapon 2, Misconduct Involving a Weapon 3, and Reckless Endangerment. The motive regarding the shooting remains unclear, police said.
Why he was not charged with attempted murder after shooting at and hitting a police officer with a bullet is also unclear.
The incident unfolded near Creekside Park on Monday, when Baker allegedly approached a car and shot two people inside of it. Then he hunkered down into a nearby trailer home and barricaded himself in. From there, he shot a police officer, who ended up in the hospital with a bullet wound, along with the other two people the man had shot earlier.
Police used nonlethal projectiles to try to bring the matter to a safe conclusion. Six people have been shot by Anchorage police during the past three months, but Baker was not the seventh.