Police say the victim in a fatal shooting in East Anchorage on Tuesday night was a 12-year-old girl.
A suspect police described as a “male juvenile” was in custody at McLaughlin Youth Center, according to an update late Wednesday.
No additional details were available Thursday about the circumstances surrounding the shooting. Police said they would not be identifying the girl due to her age.
Police said officers and medics were called to the 2200 block of Muldoon Road, near a residential area north of Northern Lights Boulevard, at 6:20 p.m. Tuesday and found the girl with a gunshot wound to her upper body. She died at the scene.
Charges were forwarded to the Division of Juvenile Justice for a juvenile male suspect, police said in an update Wednesday night. He was also not identified because of his age.
An Anchorage School District spokesman on Thursday said the district could not comment on the situation, including whether the victim was a student at a district school.
Families at Begich Middle School on Wednesday received a message from Assistant Principal Laura Carter notifying them of a student’s death on Tuesday.
“I am writing with great sadness to inform you that one of our students was the victim of a tragedy in our community yesterday,” Carter wrote. “While we cannot comment on any specifics around this incident, we do know that the passing of a student is deeply impactful. Your student may be struggling to deal with this tragedy, and it may bring up past traumas.”
She urged guardians to speak with students to see if they needed extra support and said members of the district’s crisis response team would be available Thursday.
Police said Wednesday evening the investigation was continuing and they would not be releasing additional information. They described the shooting as an “isolated event.”