An Alaska State Trooper fatally shot a man who allegedly drove his vehicle in the direction of the officer early Tuesday morning following a brief car chase in Fairbanks.
Read more AI, drones, and salmon: What new technology could mean for Bristol Bay sockeye counts
The trooper fired his gun after the driver didn’t stop in response to the trooper’s commands, according to the Alaska Department of Public Safety.
The trooper had tried to stop a Ford Sedan just before 3 a.m. near Noble Street and Airport Way, a statement posted online Tuesday said. The intersection is near the south side of downtown Fairbanks.
The statement said the trooper pursued the car after the driver allegedly refused to stop. About a minute and a half later, the driver went down 5th Avenue and down a dead end, where a marked trooper vehicle partially blocked in the car, the statement said.
The car then drove toward a trooper, who was giving commands to stop, and the trooper shot at and struck the adult male driver, the car’s sole occupant, “due to the driver’s actions,” the statement said.
The driver was taken to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
When asked whether the trooper was on foot when shots were fired, Austin McDaniel, a Department of Public Safety spokesperson, wrote in an email that the trooper was “outside of the vehicle” at the time.
Read more Many gas pipeline construction jobs will go to non-Alaskans, 2020 study indicates
When asked whether the car was on a collision course with the trooper and about his distance from the driver, McDaniel wrote that the trooper was “directly next to the vehicle when they discharged their weapon.”
The Alaska Bureau of Investigation is looking into the incident, and its investigation will be reviewed by the state Office of Special Prosecutions, as required by state Department of Public Safety policy. McDaniel declined to say how many shots were fired, citing the investigation.
He said troopers receive “substantial training on vehicle interdiction tactics.”
“Once the criminal investigation is completed by the Alaska Bureau of Investigation and Office of Special Prosecutions, the DPS Tactics and Training Review Board will review this incident to determine if any tactics, training, or equipment should be changed in the future,” McDaniel wrote.
Neither the trooper nor the driver have been named publicly. The trooper has been placed on seven days of administrative leave and will be identified after 72 hours, and troopers said the driver will be identified after next of kin have been notified.
The incident marks the second fatal shooting involving an Alaska State Trooper in Fairbanks within 10 days. On June 28, two Fairbanks Police Department officers and one trooper shot 31-year-old Brandon Roberts outside the Bentley Mall. An image released by police after that incident appears to show Roberts pointing a gun at an officer shortly before they shot him.
That shooting incident remains under investigation by Fairbanks police, who identified the officers in that case as Fairbanks officers Gregory Stratman and Matthew Pugh and Alaska State Trooper Julien Dreher.
Read more Atmautluak man charged with manslaughter in fatal shooting
Copyright 2026 KUAC