Update: Anchorage police said Thursday morning that 23-year-old Andrew Robertson-Goughnour was charged with first- and second-degree murder in the shooting, which killed 19-year-old Brandon Merritt. Read more here.
Original story:
A shooting in an Anchorage gas station parking lot Wednesday evening left one man dead, according to police.
Anchorage Police Sgt. Jason Allen said that shortly before 9 p.m. Wednesday police received a report of a shooting at the Holiday gas station on Abbott Road, off the Seward Highway.
As officers were on their way to the gas station, a man called police and said he had shot a man at the store, Allen said.
“I don’t know much about what led to this situation,” Allen said.
Witnesses and the suspect remained at the gas station until police arrived.
By 10 p.m. Wednesday, Allen said no arrests had been made. Yellow crime scene tape fenced in the gas station parking lot. The man was dead when police arrived.
Wil Smith, a 23-year-old employee at the gas station, stood across the street from the crime scene.
He said he was taking the trash out to the dumpster Wednesday night when he noticed a group of people arguing in the parking lot near the gas pumps.
“The next thing you knew he pulled out a gun,” Smith said. Smith said he heard a gunshot and saw a man fall to the ground.
Smith said he ducked before yelling into the store that someone had been shot and to call police.