Man with gunshot wound found dead in East Anchorage

A man with a gunshot wound was found dead late Monday off Taku Drive in East Anchorage, Anchorage police said.

Officers responding to a 10:40 p.m. report of shots fired in the 5400 block of Taku, just off Boniface Parkway and the Glenn Highway, found the man with a wound to the upper body, police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

An investigation was continuing, police said in a Tuesday morning alert.

Residents of an apartment complex near the scene said the alley behind Taku Drive was cordoned off until around 5 a.m. Blood that had been washed into the unpaved alley’s puddles remained at the scene late Tuesday morning.

Valerie Roberts, who lives nearby, said she heard what sounded like four heavy-caliber gunshots that “shook the building," and later saw the victim lying directly behind the apartment complex in the alleyway while police were on the scene.

Gunshots are uncommon in the area, she said.

The man’s identity is being withheld until police can notify his family.

Detectives were looking for witnesses, police said, asking anyone with information, including surveillance video from the area, to call dispatch at 911 or, to remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at 907-561-7867.

"If residents in the area heard or saw anything suspicious around the time of the shooting, we want them to call us as well,” said Anchorage police spokesman MJ Thim.