With manhunt underway, staff at a ski area gathered in the chalet. Then the suspects walked in.

As police searched Sunday morning for two men suspected of burglarizing a home and firing at officers on the Anchorage Hillside, Hilltop Ski Area went into lockdown mode, with staff and skiers gathering in the facility's chalet.

What they didn't know was that both of the suspects were locked in with them.

It began around 8:50 a.m. with a report of a burglary on Slalom Drive, in the Upper Hillside area near the Prospect Heights trailhead, followed by multiple reports of vehicle vandalism in the area.

A suspect vehicle was spotted on nearby Schuss Drive, said Anchorage Police Department spokeswoman Jennifer Castro. Someone fired at officers from the vehicle when police tried to contact them, she said.

"The suspect vehicle ended up down by Hilltop, they got out and fled on foot," Castro said while the search was continuing Sunday.

Around that time, Hilltop Ski Area manager Steve Remme got word that police were hunting for suspects in a burglary in the area.

"We called dispatch and asked if we needed to be concerned and they told us to gather up our employees and go into a lockdown mode," he said.

The ski area had just opened at 9 a.m., so Remme rounded up his staff members and the one or two customers who were already on the slopes.

As people gathered in the chalet, a man walked inside and asked if he could call a cab.

He was told no, the ski area was in lockdown mode. He remained inside, sitting quietly, Remme said.

"He wasn't acting suspicious or waving a gun around or anything," he said.

Another man was wandering around outside, conspicuously missing a shoe in temperatures that sat below zero Sunday morning. He came inside too; he said he'd been involved in a rollover accident, Remme said.

The two men didn't interact with each other.

It wasn't clear who of the roughly 20 people inside the chalet was a customer and who might be a suspect. But the two men didn't quite fit in with the ski crowd, Remme said — one was wearing sweatpants and the other camouflage pants.

"We were definitely keeping an eye on them and concerned," Remme said. Staff members on the phone with police dispatchers said there was "someone of interest … in the building," he said.

Police secured the perimeter, Remme said, and then entered "like a SWAT team does, with weapons drawn."

The two men were arrested.

Castro said no officers discharged their weapons and there were no reports of injuries in the incident.

On Sunday night, police identified the two suspects as Austin Carroll, 29, and Dante Padilla, 28. Both men were charged with two counts of second-degree theft and a single count of third-degree assault. Padilla was also charged with failing to stop at the direction of a peace officer.

Remme said he is thankful the situation didn't play out later in the day, when the ski area would have been full of people — including kids taking ski lessons.

"It could have been a lot different, especially in the middle of the day," he said.

News Editor Ben Anderson contributed to this report.