Finally, another officer tapped my window and gestured to turn around and go back.
KTUU has this:
According to APD spokesperson Dani Myren, police were conducting an agency assist for “U.S. Treasury federal agents” near the intersection of Bragaw Street and Mountain View Drive at about 4:15 p.m.
“It looks like we were assisting on a felony extraditable warrant,” Myren said.
Myren says it’s not clear whether the man was trying to commit suicide, but confirms that he did shoot himself and is in unknown condition.
“It looks like there’s a self-inflicted injury at the very least,” Myren said.
Must have been pretty scary for you! Thanks for the pic and glad you're ok
ReplyDeleteThanks for your concern. Things happened pretty quickly, didn't have time or smarts enough to be scared. It wasn't until the cop jumped out and pointed the gun at the car that it occurred to me this could get dicey. I thought about whether ducking down below the windshield would help if they started shooting.
DeleteThe picture was 3X telephoto on my little Canon Powershot and then I cropped it before posting, so it looks closer than we were.
And then the ambulance was there quickly and it seemed like nothing dangerous was going to happen. There were a lot of cars all around. If anyone had started shooting, there were lots of potential victims of stray bullets.
Funny, your response. When I pulled into a parking lot off C Street years ago with office staff for lunch, we saw a man jump up on a car roof and pointed his gun at us. The cops who were there shot him dead.
ReplyDeleteMy first experience with 'suicide by cop' as it became called. The man had significant mental anguish, he was off meds, being frantically searched for by his relations -- all too late.
Crossed emotions at that moment. I too didn't duck. Everyone else in the car did and screamed for me to back up, get out of there. I did back up. We were safe then. The man on the car roof wasn't.
Steve, you ran into what a gun-filled society is like. I can't tell you how many times I read the ADN and see a gun related 'incident'. It's just so normal in American cities. It's so messed up.
We shake our heads at the madness here.
All the best, dear American friend.
May one ask what part of the world you are in? I appreciate knowing how the rest of humanity sees our national schizophrenia.
DeleteLondon, England. 82 homocides in a city of nearly 8 million. Too many knifings, mind you, but often less fatal then are gunshot wounds. Anyway, London has a homocide rate roughly 1/5th that of Anchorage, looking at recent crime reporting data.
ReplyDeleteI used to live in Anchorage, am a US citizen as well as British. I understand fully the 2nd Amendment -- I can quckly add my family were hunters and NRA members back in the day when it was about rifles and hunting, and I am also a US citizen who believes the US Supreme Court has made bad law recently on its interpretation of this amendment.
Not spoiling for a fight here. I can report how very different it is here in a culture that in no way conditions its sense of liberty on the ownership of guns.
[Deleted my first reply as I had made a typo in my text and couldn't edit it after having posted.]