An Anchorage police officer shot and wounded a 17-year-old boy pointing what the officer thought was a scoped hunting rifle at people in the parking lot of a restaurant late Monday night.

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This model of pellet gun was involved in the Anchorage shooting Monday night. The image is from the Crosman Web site.

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The rifle, however, turned out to be a pellet gun, and the youth, who was shot in the arm, told investigators he wasn't pointing it at anyone, police said.

"It doesn't appear that he was trying to hurt anyone," homicide Detective Sgt. Slawomir Markiewicz said Tuesday, hours after the shooting. "He actually said that he was pointing the gun at a sign across the street. But from the officer's viewpoint, there was a group of people there and it looked to him like he was pointing at that group."

The boy, who was not named because of his age, was hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries and underwent surgery Tuesday morning, according to police.

The encounter took place in the parking lot of the Taco Bell on Fifth Avenue across from Merrill Field about 11:30 p.m. The officer, who also was not named, was parked north of the lot, when he heard what sounded like a disturbance and went to check it out, police spokeswoman Marlene Lammers said.

When he got to the north end of the lot he saw the boy braced against a truck in a shooting position, Markiewicz said. The Crosman Storm XT, which fires a .177-caliber pellet but closely resembles a hunting rifle, was leveled and the boy was looking through the scope, he said. From the officer's perspective, the boy appeared to be sighting in on people in the lot, police said. The officer fired.

"Obviously, the officer didn't know that it was simply a BB gun," Lammers said. "Nowadays so many weapons, whether they're fake or real, if you will, they look real. ... The officer, I believe, was acting the way he was trained to, you know, to protect the safety of others."

The boy was hit in the right arm by a round that traveled the length of the parking lot, Lammers said.

There were a number of witnesses to the shooting, and detectives were still sorting through differing accounts, Markiewicz said.

According to department policy, officers aren't required to order a suspect to drop a weapon before firing, although they generally do issue commands when time allows, Markiewicz said. Whether the officer issued any warning before firing remained under investigation.

About a half dozen youths were around the truck where the teen was positioned, and the vehicle's stereo was pumping out music at the time, Markiewicz said. They apparently didn't even know the officer was in the area until the boy was shot.

"They didn't hear the officer until, actually, the 17-year-old was shot and then they saw the officer," Markiewicz said.

Another nearby group of about four bystanders, who were not connected with the first group, told police they didn't hear the officer say anything either, he said. But a construction worker in the area said she heard the officer repeatedly saying, "Drop the gun!," Markiewicz said.

"The officer in his statement didn't recall saying that," Markiewicz said. "We believe everyone is telling the truth, or how they perceive that, and it's usually happening so fast it's not uncommon for people to not remember some details in these types of situations."

The shooting isn't the first violent encounter at that Taco Bell. In February 2004, 27-year-old Eric Kalenka was repeatedly and fatally stabbed in the leg during a fight prompted by a fender-bender at the drive-through window. In August 2003, restaurant worker Joshua Goliver, 21, was fatally shot in the chest through the drive-through window during a robbery.

The restaurant has a surveillance system, including cameras that appeared poised to have caught Monday night's encounter, and police planned to examine the footage to figure out exactly what happened, Markiewicz said.

The results of the investigation will be forwarded to the district attorney's office, which will determine both whether the shooting was justified and whether the juvenile should be charged with a crime.

Police said the officer has been placed on three days administrative leave while the shooting is investigated. His name will be released after that time, as is department policy.

Find James Halpin online at adn.com/contact/jhalpin or call him at 257-4589.

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