Kotzebue police are investigating the apparent shooting death of a 21-year-old man, according to an attorney for the Northwest Alaska city.
Police believe that Bob Robert Henry Jr., of Kotzebue, died this month of a gunshot wound but have not determined if the shooting was self-inflicted, said Kotzebue city attorney Joe Evans.
One of Henry's final Facebook posts came on June 7. "I love my life an everyone in it," he wrote.
By June 13, the page had become a memorial, filled with condolences from friends and family.
A Kotzebue police lieutenant on Monday referred questions about the investigation to Evans, who would not say on what day and time the shooting occurred. The city attorney would not say where the shooting occurred, citing the ongoing investigation.
Two people were "briefly detained" and then released during the investigation, Evans wrote in an emailed response to a public records request. No one had been arrested as of Thursday.
Evans wrote that the two people detained were not considered to be "persons of interest" in the case.
"This matter ... is still on-going and has not yet been completed," Evans wrote in response to the records request. "The Kotzebue Police Department is awaiting reports from the Medical Examiner's Office and the Alaska Bureau of Investigations before its investigation of this matter can be completed."
Contact Kyle Hopkins at khopkins@adn.com .
By KYLE HOPKINS