Anchorage

1 dead, 2 teens injured as gunfire reported around Anchorage

Update 11 a.m. Monday:

Anchorage police have identified the person killed in the Saturday shooting near Lane Street and Fifth Avenue as 19-year-old Byzantium Hill. The investigation is ongoing, police said, and no arrests have been made.

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Sunday story:

Four separate instances of gunfire around Anchorage in less than 12 hours Saturday and Sunday left one person dead and two teenagers in critical condition, according to Anchorage police. No suspects were in custody in any of the incidents Sunday afternoon.

The first incident occurred shortly after 6 p.m. Saturday in the Spenard neighborhood, where police responded to a home at the 2500 block of Kona Lane and found an 18-year-old man suffering from a gunshot wound to his pelvis.

He was taken into surgery Saturday and remained in critical condition Sunday, according to a statement from the Anchorage Police Department.

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Then, around 2 a.m. Sunday, police were called to a report of gunfire in East Anchorage, where they found a man who had been shot at a residence on Lane Street. He was taken to a local hospital and pronounced dead. Police are investigating the incident as a homicide, but were not releasing additional details Sunday.

On Sunday afternoon, APD's mobile crime scene investigation unit was parked by a tan home near the corner of Lane Street and Fifth Avenue, a couple of blocks from Russian Jack Springs Park. Crime scene investigators tagged evidence from the top of a vehicle parked in a carport and removed a window pane near the front door. One neighbor said his mother had been awoken by gunshots and had called the police.

The violence was not over for the night.

About a half-hour after the shooting that left a man dead, police responded to the 3300 block of Boniface Parkway for another report of shots fired.

"Shortly thereafter, it was reported to police that an 18-year-old male had been shot while sitting in a parked truck in the driveway of a trailer home," police said in the Sunday statement.

According to police, the man had been driving home with friends in his truck and heard a loud "pop" shortly after parking in the driveway, and realized he had been shot. No one else in the vehicle was injured, police said.

The man was taken to the hospital and remained in critical condition Sunday.

At 3:41 a.m. Sunday, the fourth gunfire-related call of the night drew police to the area of Chena Avenue and Davis Street, not far from the scene of the earlier homicide.

Multiple people called in reports of gunfire, and some reported hearing yelling around the same time.

"Police arrived on scene five minutes after the initial call; no one was located in the area and multiple shell casings were located outside," police said.

No one was injured in that incident.

Police have not said whether they believe the incidents are related.

No suspects were in custody Sunday afternoon, and police were asking for the public's help in learning more about the incidents. Anyone with information is asked to call APD at 907-786-8900 and press 0 to speak with dispatch, or submit an anonymous tip to Crime Stoppers at 907-561-STOP or at www.anchoragecrimestoppers.com.

Michelle Theriault Boots

Michelle Theriault Boots is a longtime reporter for the Anchorage Daily News. She focuses on in-depth stories about the intersection of public policy and Alaskans' lives. Before joining the ADN in 2012, she worked at daily newspapers up and down the West Coast and earned a master's degree from the University of Oregon.

Ben Anderson

Ben Anderson is a former writer and editor for Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2017.

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