The Village Public Safety Officer in the western Alaska village of Manokotak was shot and killed on Tuesday, and a 42-year-old man is in custody, according to Alaska State Troopers.
The VPSO was identified by troopers as Thomas O. Madole, 54. He's one of two VPSOs in the village and had been assigned to the village since August 2011, troopers said.
About 5 p.m., troopers in Dillingham received a report of shots being fired in Manokotak, a village on the Bristol Bay coast.
Troopers arrived an hour later and found Madole dead outside a residence of an apparent gunshot wound, troopers said.
Leroy B. Dick Jr., 42, of Manokotak "was taken into custody a short time later by State Troopers not far from where the body of VPSO Madole was located," troopers reported.
Details about what led to the shooting weren't immediately available.
Dick was taken to Dillingham, where he was being held Tuesday night pending his arraignment on charges of first degree murder, troopers said.
Anchorage Daily News / adn.com