Anchorage Daily News

HOMER -- On the day before the fatal 2006 shootout at the Homer Airport, Alaska State Troopers were approached by federal marshals seeking help to apprehend a dangerous fugitive. The troopers decided they wanted nothing to do with the marshals' plans.

U.S. marshals had two strategies for capturing Jason Karlo Anderson, a violent drug dealer from their top-15 wanted list who was hiding out in Alaska. One involved his girlfriend, who had fled after he shoved his .45-caliber pistol in her mouth. The other involved surrounding the cabin complex in Homer where he was thought to be staying.

Both scenarios could easily turn into hostage situations, the troopers worried, because Anderson kept his two small children close by at all times. He had already threatened to kill them -- and as many cops as possible -- if an arrest was attempted.

"If they wanted our assistance," said Capt. Tom Bowman, head of the Kenai Peninsula troopers detachment, "it would be only when we could guarantee he was separated from the kids, his pit bull, which he always had with him, and his gun."

Bowman's words of caution emerged from the troopers investigation into the shootout at the Homer Airport, which was finally released last week, two years after the incident that left Anderson dead and his 2-year-old son permanently brain-damaged.

Bowman's advice at the time: follow Anderson's car around until he steps out to get gas or go into a store, then grab him.

On March 1, 2006, the two marshals sent to find Anderson came up with a different plan: lure him to the airport to switch out his rental car, then stun him with a taser when he walked up to the service desk. It sounded good -- the plan would get Anderson away from the kids in his car, and Homer police could be on hand for backup.

No one expected Homer's small airport terminal to be packed at the appointed hour with more than a hundred people come to see off a group of community choir and high school chorus singers bound for Italy. Anderson had specifically asked the rental car agent about planes around 6 p.m., and had been assured that, in winter, "there probably wouldn't be that many people here."

When Anderson refused to enter the crowded terminal, marshals and police hastily hatched a plan to capture him in the parking lot.

"Letting him drive away was 'not an option' because (deputy marshal, name withheld) felt there was no way to run surveillance on him," the troopers report noted.

The report included no more discussion of why the arrest attempt wasn't halted. But John Glass, the state deputy commissioner of public safety, elaborated a little in an interview.

"I think it's pretty clear they considered him an extreme danger and they did not want to let him get too far away," Glass said.

THE REPORT

State troopers, who stood by outside the airport that evening for backup, were later asked to investigate the incident. Their report consists of follow-up interviews in the weeks after the shooting. Names of witnesses, including the officers involved, have been blacked out.

Though it draws few conclusions, the 96-page report provides a picture of miscommunication and confusion in the minutes that followed the decision to go ahead.

It's not clear who fired first after Anderson pulled his gun and waved it at approaching officers. There is disagreement among the officers over whether they knew the children were in the car.

A marshal said "everyone should have known the children would be with Anderson, as the plan covered separating Anderson from the children." But one Homer officer told investigators that when the shooting was over and someone yelled "The baby was hit!" his reaction was, "Oh s---! What baby?"

The troopers report concludes that Anderson shot his own son in the face before killing himself with a bullet to the brain. The troopers cite the state medical examiner's work with photographs of the son, Jason Anderson II, taken before the first of nine brain operations.

But that conclusion is contested. Hospital doctors in Homer and Anchorage who examined the wound -- though admitting they have less experience in such matters -- concluded the bullet entered the boy's head from behind. Young Jason was sitting on the rear passenger side of the car, facing front and in a car seat when the shooting began. The medical examiner's report saying he was shot from the front, was not included in the report by troopers, who cited privacy laws.

The question of who shot young Jason is likely to be a point in a civil lawsuit against the marshals and the city of Homer being prepared by lawyers for the former girlfriend and mother of Anderson's two children, Cherry Dietzmann.

Regardless of who shot the boy, the lawyers said, he was the victim of "a tragic and foolish law enforcement operation."

Young Jason is in medical foster care now in Minnesota, where he is reported to be minimally responsive and heavily drugged to prevent seizures.

Homer officials still won't say much, even two years later, because of the pending lawsuit.

"We wish we could talk about this in detail, in terms of engaging the public, because the public deserves some answers," said city manager Walt Wrede.

Official statements have been terse, pending a decision by state and federal prosecutors about whether to file charges against any of the officers involved.

"I can say the deputies believed they needed to go forward to safeguard the welfare of those children," said Marc Otte, the deputy chief U.S. marshal for the Alaska district.

Last month, the U.S. Attorney for Seattle, who took over the federal case to avoid conflicts here, concluded no civil rights violations occurred and no charges were filed. The state also declined to press charges.

"With 20/20 hindsight we can all see ways that law enforcement could have improved their apprehension plan," U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Sullivan said in a prepared statement. He referred to "allegedly poor tactical decisions and judgments that led to the deadly confrontation," but Anderson was dangerous. "None of us were in their shoes, making decisions minute to minute," he said.

DANGEROUS TO DEADLY

One thing does emerge clearly from the lengthy investigation: Jason Anderson was a very bad man.

Anderson, 31, had a criminal record in Minnesota for drug-dealing and assault and ties to the Aryan Brotherhood, a skinhead gang. One of those he'd assaulted regularly was his girlfriend, Dietzmann, who told troopers she was afraid to leave because he threatened her family and their infant son. He tied her up, beat her with coat hangers and pushed his .45 barrel so hard against her temple it left a bruise.

They moved to Anchorage in May 2005 after a drug raid "to get as far away from things as possible." Dietzmann gave birth to their second child here but the violence grew worse. Much of the time she was a prisoner, she said, unable to leave their apartment -- he even handcuffed her to him when he went to the bathroom or showered.

He moved them to the Kenai Peninsula in December after Anchorage neighbors complained. Investigators said he was importing pounds of methamphetamines from the Lower 48. Dietzmann said Anderson seemed to be using meth, not just selling it, because he became increasingly paranoid, rarely slept, and dug at his face, thinking there were bugs under his skin.

She said she fled several times -- once crashing out of the garage in their Cadillac as Anderson chased her in his underwear before sliding off the hood. But she returned because she could not extricate the children.

Marshals were notified in mid-February that Anderson was in Alaska. They contacted Dietzmann shortly before the shootout and she agreed to help track his movements between Soldotna and Homer. She said she warned he would react violently if approached, endangering the children. One marshal told troopers that while he took the warning seriously, it was something they often heard about fugitives and rarely proved to be the case.

The marshals tracked Anderson to some rental cabins in Homer, but he had moved on. Then they enlisted the rental car agent to lure him to the Homer Airport. The report said they were concerned that Anderson might have been tipped off that he was being sought.

Anderson called the rental agent on a cell phone when he reached the airport parking lot and refused to enter the terminal to get keys for a new car, saying he had to stay outside with his children. The car agent conveyed this to officers standing inside, but he did not mention the presence of the children, he told troopers.

Minutes later, a deputy marshal pulled his vehicle in front of Anderson's Jeep while three Homer police officers pulled up behind. The marshal reported seeing Anderson get "big bug eyes" and reach under his seat for a gun. Shooting erupted.

A pit bull bolted from the front seat and was shot as it ran at police. The dog was later found, recovered and was adopted.

Anderson fired at least four shots, the report said. He received multiple life-threatening wounds before shooting himself in the head, it said. An ambulance was summoned for the boy. His 6-month-old sister, in a car seat next to his, was unhurt. Anderson was deemed to be "not viable."

Find reporter Tom Kizzia online at adn.com/contact/tkizzia.

At a glance

2006

MARCH 1 -- Shootout at Homer Airport: Fugitive Jason Karlo Anderson killed; son, 2, seriously injured.

March 6 -- Alaska State Troopers investigate shootout, say Anderson killed himself after being wounded by police or federal marshals.

March 9 -- Homer police say they didn't know children were in the car with Anderson.

April 4 -- Medical examiner says Anderson shot his son before killing himself.

Nov. 29 -- State hands results of investigation over to federal prosecutors.

2008

Jan. 31 -- Federal prosecutor says officers committed no federal crime.

Feb. 13 -- State says it won't charge any law enforcement officers involved.

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