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Anchorage police officers fatally shot a 16-year-old girl who approached them with a knife, the department said Wednesday, the fourth deadly shooting involving police in Alaska's largest city since mid-May.
Anchorage Police Chief Sean Case told reporters that the shooting happened when officers responded to a reported disturbance between two family members around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, Alaska Public Media reported. The caller said her sister had threatened her with a knife.
Case said the teen approached responding officers holding a knife, at which point two of them opened fire. Police said in a statement that the officers had given the teen “multiple commands," but did not specify what those commands were.
“One single officer fired multiple rounds,” Case said. “A second officer fired a round with a less-lethal projectile.”
The teen was declared dead at a hospital.
“She would have started her junior year in high school on Thursday," Case said. The girl's name was not released.
Anchorage School District Superintendent Jharrett Bryantt said in a statement that support would be provided for affected students and staff when classes start.
Case said department policy states officers using less-lethal weapons are to be backed up by others with lethal force. But he said officers have discretion in using their weapons.
“Each officer is making a determination to use the tool that they have with them based on the circumstances in front of them,” said Case, who became chief in July.
He said the incident was recorded on officers’ body-worn cameras and that the officers involved had not been interviewed as of Wednesday morning.
The shooting is the sixth involving Anchorage police since mid-May, including four that resulted in death.
The state Office of Special Prosecutions has declined to file criminal charges in the two deadly shootings it has reviewed so far, concluding that use of force was justified. The office will investigate this latest shooting.
Case said the department would “continue to look at our training, our tactics, as well as our supervision in these types of incidents to try to prevent future officer-involved shootings.”
