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State investigators are examining vehicles involved in a weekend shooting and standoff in Kotzebue that injured two Alaska State Troopers and left one man dead. (KTUU/Ted Land / June 18, 2012) |
Negotiators tried, unsucessfully, to subdue a gunman during a standoff in Kotzebue, Sunday, using non-lethal techniques.
Alaska State Troopers fired rubber bullets, pepper powder rounds, and bean bags at 50 year old Arvid Nelson Jr., but he wouldn't respond, AST said.
"The overall mission is to save lives and to do so in a manner that considers all available options," Beth Ipsen, Troopers spokesperon, wrote in a statement.
Negotiators crouched in the back of a dump truck which backed up to Nelson's vehicle. AST said authorities wanted to get close enough to use their non-lethal techniques, while still protecting themselves from possible gunfire.
According to AST, Nelson ended the standoff by shooting and killing himself in his pickup truck along Ted Stevens Way near the Kotzebue airport.
He earlier opened fire on Kotzebue Police and two Troopers after police responded to a report of a man brandishing a weapon, AST said.
Troopers and Kotzebue Police returned fire.
Both Troopers were injured in the shooting. One was treated and released from the hospital in Kotzebue with minor injuries. The other is recovering in an Anchorage hospital.
"He's doing well," said Ipsen.
Nelson's body was flown to Anchorage for an autopsy.
Four state invesigators and a crime scene technician from the Alaska Bureau of Investigation are arrived in Kotzebue, Monday, to examine the crime scene.
Troopers say the investigation is standard procedure for any shooting involving one of their own.
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