JUNEAU -- A 34-year-old Juneau woman shot and killed herself Monday morning outside the Juneau courthouse, across the street from the Capitol, police said.
Juneau police identified the woman later Monday as Miranda Ellen Davison. Her body will be flown to Anchorage for an autopsy.
Davison was loaded into an ambulance while first responders administered chest compressions. A pistol lay on the ground beside her.
"The initial investigation indicates that a female shot herself in the chest with a handgun," Juneau police said in a statement from Lt. Dave Campbell. "No one else was hurt during the shooting."
The shot came as Davison was walking away from the courthouse, said Kathie Wasserman, who runs the Alaska Municipal League, a local government organization, and who was leaving the Capitol at the same time with Clay Walker, the mayor of the Denali Borough.
"We were walking across the street to start down to my office and I saw her come out," Wasserman said. "I looked at her, and then turned back to talk to Clay."
"Then I heard the gunshot go off, and I saw her drop," Wasserman said.
Wasserman said she and Walker initially feared the woman had been shot by someone else, before they saw her drop the pistol.
Members of the Capitol's security department, along with state Sen. Donny Olson, a doctor, came to the assistance of Davison.
Libby Bakalar, an assistant attorney general, was inside the courthouse Monday morning. She said on her blog that the building went into lockdown for about an hour after the incident.
"I heard the gunshot, but it didn't really register as such," Bakalar wrote, adding that loud noises in the area aren't uncommon.
The Capitol remained open Monday afternoon.
Police said an investigation is continuing.
Davison had previously been in the news in May 2015, when she was arrested after destroying several television sets and a display case full of iPods with a hatchet at the Juneau Wal-Mart. Campbell told the Juneau Empire at that time that Davison was charged with a single count of third-degree criminal mischief, as people in the store didn't feel threatened by her actions.
Court records show Davison was convicted of an amended charge of attempted criminal mischief in October 2015. The records indicate a jury trial was postponed and at least one competency hearing was held in her case.
The Juneau Empire reported that prosecutor James Scott commented during Davison's initial court appearance that her actions were likely due to "an emotional or psychiatric disorder."
In Alaska, attorneys on either side of a case or the judge can raise questions about mental competency at any time. Cases generally result in convictions only after defendants are deemed competent.
Jerzy Shedlock contributed to this report.