Woman shot and killed by Juneau officer as she approached with a hatchet, police say

Anchorage Daily News, Alaska on Dec 26, 2024

Published in Women

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A woman was shot and killed by a Juneau, Alaska, police officer early Christmas morning after she approached officers with a hatchet and refused to put it down, police said.

The incident occurred outside the Breeze In grocery in the Mendenhall Valley, police said. According to a written account by the Juneau Police Department, someone called the department at 5:25 a.m. Wednesday and said a woman was screaming at people and that she had threatened the caller with a hammer.

"Three (Juneau Police Department) officers responded to the scene and were immediately met by the female in the parking lot," police wrote. "The female began walking towards them with a hatchet in her hands. During the initial contact, the female was holding the hatchet and refused to follow requests and orders from the officers to put the hatchet down.

"A taser was deployed, which struck the female, but the female continued to advance towards the officers with the hatchet in her hand. As the female walked towards an officer, he discharged his weapon, striking the female," police wrote.

The woman was declared dead at the scene, police wrote. No one else was hurt.

The woman's name wasn't immediately released. Police said she was 30 years old. The Juneau Empire reported she was apparently homeless and known to other local residents in similar circumstances who spoke to the newspaper.

Juneau police and the Alaska Bureau of Investigation are investigating, the department wrote. The Office of Special Prosecutions within the Alaska Department of Law will review the case.

The officers involved have not been identified.

In July, a 35-year-old homeless man was shot and killed by police in downtown Juneau after a confrontation.

Juneau police had tried to arrest Steve Kissack, who was well-known in the community, for an alleged assault the day before. During a roughly 15-minute police stop, Kissack repeatedly threatened officers and ignored orders to drop his knife, according to a review by the state Department of Law. Sgt. Christopher Gifford, a Juneau police officer, and Sgt. Branden Forst, an Alaska wildlife trooper, shot Kissack three times after "less lethal" bean bag rounds failed to stop him, the review said. The review found that officers were legally justified in the shooting.