Crime & Courts

5 arrested in connection with Anchorage carjacking, SWAT standoff

Update, Sunday 12:45 p.m.:  Anchorage police have identified five people arrested in connection with a Saturday carjacking and SWAT standoff in East Anchorage.

Seven people taken into custody after the standoff were questioned by detectives, the Anchorage Police Department said in a statement Sunday. Five were arrested. All had outstanding warrants and some were charged with new crimes.

The people arrested are:

– Keith Tracey, 38, on charges of resisting arrest by hiding/barricading. He was also arrested on an outstanding warrant.

– Eti Sevetasimale, 31, on three outstanding warrants.

– Isaiah Hank, 19, on second degree theft, criminal trespass and violating conditions of release, as well as an outstanding warrant.

– Merandarae Sheakley, 22, on resisting arrest by hiding/barricading and an outstanding warrant.

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– Steavin Martin, 32, on two outstanding warrants.

All five people arrested are set to appear Sunday at the Anchorage Jail Court.

Original story from Saturday: Seven people connected to a carjacking investigation are in police custody after a SWAT team responded to an apartment complex in East Anchorage where the suspects refused to come out for hours, police said Saturday evening.

Roads that were closed in the area of East 26th Avenue and Carroll Place have been reopened.

The carjacking occurred around 8:15 a.m. Saturday in the 4100 block of DeBarr Road, police said in an advisory posted online. A woman was getting into a purple 2013 Kia Optima when a man approached, shoved the victim and stole the car, police said. The man wasn't armed and the woman, who called 911, wasn't injured, according to police.

At 10:45 a.m., police officers located the abandoned car in the area of East 26th Avenue and Carroll Place, not far from Boniface Parkway.

Police were there investigating into the afternoon. Around 2 p.m., police received a report of shots fired in the area, and the suspects were located hiding in an apartment building on the 5200 block of East 26th Avenue. Police didn't find any shooting victims.

A preliminary investigation found that the suspects in the shots fired incident are connected to the carjacking investigation, police said.

Officers with the police Crisis Negotiation Team and K-9 Unit were on the scene Saturday. SWAT team officers were called out after the suspects in the apartment continued to "ignore officers' commands to exit," police said.

Two women exited the apartment building by about 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, but other people remained inside. By about 9 p.m., all of them surrendered without incident, police said.

The seven people in custody — five men and two women — are being questioned by detectives, police said. No arrests had been made as of 10:30 p.m. on Saturday, said police spokesman MJ Thim.

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.

Annie Zak

Annie Zak was a business reporter for the ADN between 2015 and 2019.

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