Neighbors in the area of a Fairview shooting this morning in which an Anchorage police officer was seriously wounded said they heard a series of gunshots about the time of the 2 a.m. incident. The officer had responded a short time earlier to a call involving a family dispute.
The neighbors reported hearing from three to seven shots, then looked out to see a lone police car with an officer sitting in it.
Police Lt. Dave Parker said the shooter apparently drove up beside the police patrol car and opened fire.
The wounded officer was taken to a hospital with several bullet wounds, Parker said. "The initial surgical report was good and we're hopeful he'll make a full recovery," he said.
Parker said the shooting seemed unrelated to the initial call for help that the officer was answering.
That call came from Bob Hickey, 55, who phoned police late Friday night asking for help with a family problem, he said.
At roughly 1 a.m. the officer arrived at his home on Medfra Street, between 14th and 15th avenues, and interviewed Hickey about the complaint.
"About 1:45 last night he went back out to his vehicle to finish his reports," Hickey said.
Hickey started a pot of coffee, expecting the policeman to return in a few minutes. But moments later he heard six shots out in the street.
"I opened my door and I watched — I seen his black sedan go by pretty rapidly and I was hearing the police officer yelling for help."
The car leaving the scene looked to be an older-model Chevrolet four-door, maybe a Caprice, Hickey said, the kind used for police cars and taxi cabs.
The car sped south on Medfra, then turned west on 15th.
Hickey hurried to the patrol car, which was parked on the side of the road, facing 15th Avenue.
The driver's side window had been shattered. The police officer appeared to have lost the use of his left arm.
"I says, 'Is there anything I can do for you? Can I help you real fast?' He says, 'I just need help.'"
Hickey raced to the door of neighbor Ben Hussey, who called 911.
Hussey was on the phone maybe 30 seconds when a patrol car arrived, he said.
The shots had woken another neighbor, Jamey Bachmann, who looked out the window of his corner home. He heard the officer who had just pulled up hollering to the wounded man: "Are you all right? Are you all right?
At some point, Hickey had opened the driver's side door of the patrol car.
"I went to go help him out," he said. "He slid his body out. He was aware, he was very aware of what was going on around him, but he was in severe, very severe pain."
Other neighbors said he looked to be shot in the side.
"When the officers were examining the car, it looks like they were pointing out bullet holes in the door," Hussey said.
Homicide detectives are working the scene and reviewing video evidence, Parker said. It was unclear where the video evidence was recorded.
No arrests have been made.
Parker said the incident was very similar to an Oct. 31 ambush on a parked patrol car in Seattle in which Officer Timothy Brenton was killed and another officer wounded. Christopher Monfort has pleaded not guilty to aggravated murder and attempted murder in that case.
That attack was the first of three on police officers in Seattle and nearby Pierce County last year that left six officers dead, including four gunned down Nov. 28 as they were doing paperwork in a coffee shop near Tacoma.
Until the assailant in Saturday's Anchorage shooting is caught there is no way to determine whether it was a copy of the Washington attacks, Parker said.
"But it's sure interesting that we've had so many recently," he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this story. Call Kyle Hopkins at 257-4334 or e-mail khopkins@adn.com.
This is a developing story. Please check back for more details.
By KYLE HOPKINS
khopkins@adn.com