Two Alaska State Troopers who had appeared in a television show about officers on the job were shot and killed in a tiny village in the center of the nation’s biggest state, the agency said.
Patrick (Scott) Johnson and trooper Gabriel (Gabe) Rich, of the troopers’ Fairbanks rural service unit, were following up on a report from Wednesday that someone had brandished a weapon in Tanana, a tiny town of 238 people on the Tanana River.
The troopers were shot dead by “a young kid” in his 20s, the manager at the village store in town told the Anchorage Daily News.
The two men had appeared in the National Geographic channel’s show, “Alaska State Troopers.”
Troopers have released few details about the incident in the isolated community – which was featured on another show, Discovery Channel’s ‘Yukon Men’ – located about 130 miles west of Fairbanks, other than saying one person has been detained. No roads lead to Tanana and travel there is mainly by aircraft. The residents live a largely subsistence lifestyle.
Gov. Sean Parnell said in a statement that he and his wife, Sandy, “were deeply saddened to learn of the senseless, brutal crime that took the lives of two of Alaska’s finest. These fallen heroes answered the call to serve and protect, and made the ultimate sacrifice, while keeping our communities safe.”
Ruby Cruger said the shooting happened at her aunt’s home on Front Street just about 3 p.m. Thursday. She said her aunt wasn’t home at the time, but a relative of her aunt’s shot the troopers inside the home.
Cruger, who spoke to The Associated Press by telephone from the village store, said she didn’t have any other details, other than to say her aunt was sitting outside her home Thursday evening waiting for troopers to clear.
“She’s not leaving there. It’s her house,” Cruger said.
“All the troopers and everybody is up there, but you can’t get close to the crime scene,” she said.
More troopers continued to arrive Thursday evening, she said.
“All I know, we have more SWAT people coming in,” she said.
An Alaska Bureau of Investigation crew was headed to Tanana, Peters said earlier in the evening.
Because of the location of the village, about two miles west of the junction of the Tanana and Yukon rivers, the community was a trading post for Koyukon and Tanana Athabascans long before European contact, according to a state website.
About 238 community members continue to live a traditional Athabascan lifestyle, including hunting and fishing for their food.
The deaths came the same day the name of Manokotak village public safety officer Thomas Madole was added to the Indian Country Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Artesia, New Mexico.
Madole was shot and killed March 19, 2013, while responding to a domestic violence call in the Alaska Native village.
Before Thursday, 64 law enforcement officers had been killed in the line of duty since 1897 in Alaska, according to information previously provided by the Alaska State Troopers.
With News Wire Services
