The incident dates back to March 1, 2006, when U.S. Marshals and Homer Police Department officers were preparing to arrest Jason Karlo Anderson, a felon who was wanted for drug trafficking charges in Minnesota at the time.
Anderson was lured to the Homer Airport, where police were waiting, to exchange his rental car.
He had his two children, a 2-year-old boy, named Jason Alexander II and a 6-month-old daughter, in the backseat of his Jeep.
When officers blocked in Anderson’s Jeep with their own vehicles, a shootout ensued that ended with Jason Karlo Alexander, then 31, dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
His 2-year-old son sustained a gunshot to the head as well.
The infant daughter was unharmed.
Medical examiners have said evidence shows Alexander shot his own son in the face.
If that’s true, it’s beside the point, according to Philip Paul Weidner, the attorney for the mother of the children.
The law enforcement officers had been warned by the children's mother that Jason Karlo Alexander was armed, traveling with the children and would become violent if confronted, he said.
“There’s a dispute over who fired the shot but there is serious evidence to show the officers approached and seized the car with the children in the car,” Weidner said. “A gunfight was inevitable.”
Most of the money from the $3.4 million settlement will go toward the care of the boy, who Weidner says has permanent, irreversible brain damage and is dependent on a ventilator 24 hours a day, he said.
While the federal U.S. Marshals settled in the case, Weidner says the Homer Police Department is appealing the decision.
“We are concerned that the City of Homer and the Homer Police Department still will not accept responsibility and claim they are immune for their actions,” Weidner said.
The attorney representing the Homer Police Department was unavailable for comment Friday.
Reporter Rebecca Palsha contributed to this report.
