On Tuesday, Anchorage Police released the names of the two officers involved in the Friday night shooting death of 27-year-old Detlef Wulf of Anchorage in a grocery store parking lot, the third such officer-involved shooting in less than four months.
Anchorage Police officers Christopher Alexander and Michael Farr, both five year veterans of the force, fired on Wulf Friday evening when Wulf pulled a semi-automatic handgun on the officers.
Police said that five shots were fired, though it was unclear which shots came from which officer.
The officers' names were released 72 hours after the incident, per department policy. The case is under review from the state Office of Special Prosecution and Appeals.
Late Friday night, security guards at Carrs-Safeway grocery store on Gambell Street reported Wulf slumped over the wheel of a Ford SUV in the store's parking lot. Mew said the security guard suspected the man could be a drunk driver and called police.
Farr and Alexander approached the vehicle and rapped on the window to try and get Wulf's attention. It was then officers saw Wulf had a pistol -- either in his lap, or a coat pocket. Mew was unsure.
From there, things transpired quickly. Mew said police told Wulf to put his hands up. Instead, Wulf produced the gun, cracked open the door and pointed the weapon at the officers, who fired back.
"The whole incident went down in a couple seconds," Mew said.
Mew did not have any information on whether security guards noticed any other suspicious behavior from Wulf prior to the shooting. He noted that police respond to many calls near the grocery store.
"This call, on its face, was not particularly unusual," he said.
Months ago, Mew said the five officer-involved shootings in 2012 were the most ever for the department. Among the five were two fatalities -- including Shane Tasi, a 26-year-old father in Mountain View who wielded a stick at officers.
In February, officers shot and killed 25-year-old Carl Richard Bowie III, when Bowie drove a stolen vehicle toward police officers.
Mew said he had recently been in talks with Alaska State Troopers Commissioner Joe Masters about the shootings. Last year Troopers counted eight officer-involved shootings. Mew said he and Masters were both concerned and were trying to determine the reason for the increase in such shootings.
Contact Suzanna Caldwell at suzanna(at)alaskadispatch.com