Anchorage Cops Named in Midtown Shooting

0:00It's April 20th. This is Anchorage News today, AI-powered stories from your city. I'm Cory with the story. Four Anchorage cops got named in last Wednesday's Midtown shooting that left a suspect and their police dog hurt. It all kicked off around 3.25 a.m. when the owner of a stolen ride spotted it at a circle K gas station and called police. The owner tailed the car until the pulled over near 34th Avenue and Eureka Street. Police wrote up to box it in, but while one person surrendered, the other bolted and fired 1-3 shots at the officers in K-9 unit. Those officers, Jesse Melzay, Parker Boyzden, Jacob Astalaza, and Cameron Saloka, returned fire. Melzay just graduated the Academy last November. Boyzden joined in December 2021 and was cleared after another shooting earlier this year. Astalaza has been on since June 2016 with a similar cleared case. The suspect took a hit, but got life-saving help on scene before heading to the hospital.

1:01Keese got the dog, ended up losing a toe to surgery, but officials say the injury is not life-threatening, and he's on the mend. Police Chief Sean Kaye says they'll decide later if Kiska returns to duty and another press conference drops this week with more details on the dust, probe.