Man wounded by officers in East Anchorage had earlier threatened strangers with shotgun, charges say

Update, 8 a.m. Thursday: The Anchorage Police Department on Thursday identified Brandon Stack and Jacob Jones as the officers who shot Damien Dollison on Monday.

The department hired Jones in December 2016 and Stack in June 2017, officials said.

Jones was also one of four officers who fired at 34-year-old Kristopher Handy in mid-May. Handy died at the scene. Police said he “raised a long gun” at officers, but surveillance footage from a nearby apartment raised questions about police’s account of the shooting.

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A 51-year-old man fired a shotgun at another man outside an East Anchorage gas station early Monday and then fired at responding police officers, who shot and wounded him, charges filed in the encounter say.

Damien Dollison is facing three assault charges and remained hospitalized Wednesday.

Surveillance footage showed Dollison had been parked at a Circle K gas station on Bragaw Street south of DeBarr Road for about 40 minutes before he drove away, then walked back to the area with a shotgun in his hands around 3:30 a.m., according to a criminal complaint written by a police officer.

Dollison approached a parked truck and aimed a shotgun at two people sitting inside as he ordered them to get out, the complaint said. The man in the truck later told police he thought it was an attempted carjacking, the complaint said. He grabbed his own handgun before he got out of the vehicle, it said.

In surveillance footage, the man is seen raising his gun at Dollison, who then retreated to the side of the building, the complaint said. The man followed and Dollison fired his shotgun at him, then went into the store, the complaint said.

The man told police Dollison pointed the shotgun at him through the store window and then came back outside, where the two eventually decided to put their guns down and leave, the complaint said.

Police arrived as Dollison was walking south through a nearby parking lot, the complaint said. When officers tried to contact him, he pointed the shotgun and fired once at them, according to the complaint.

The two officers returned fire and struck Dollison twice, wounding him in the lower and upper body, police said. He was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries, police said.

Police Chief Sean Case provided limited details about the shooting during a news conference on Monday and said he plans to provide more information Thursday once the department is further along in its investigation.

This is the fifth time since mid May that Anchorage police have shot someone. The string of shootings left three people dead and another hospitalized.

The shootings are the first to be captured on video by body cameras since officers were outfitted earlier this year. The SWAT officers involved in a fatal standoff with a 58-year-old woman at the end of June were not wearing cameras.

Body-camera footage of the recent shootings has not been released, despite mounting pressure from the public. Case on Monday said he plans to change how the department handles release of the footage and said a revised policy will provide a timeline for release.

Dollison was unable to attend his initial court hearing Wednesday because he was hospitalized, District Court Judge Michael Logue said. The hearing was rescheduled for Thursday and Dollison is being held on a $75,000 bail.