Anchorage mayor apologizes to family of teen girl killed by police, promises reform after rash of police shootings
APD releases full videos from deadly shooting of Kristopher Handy, the 1st in deadly summer of officer-involved shootings
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - Anchorage Mayor Suzanne LaFrance apologized directly to the family of a teen girl shot and killed earlier this week by police and promised action to help prevent future deadly interactions with Anchorage officers.
The mayor’s words coincided with the release of raw APD body and dash camera footage just hours earlier from the deadly shooting of 34-year-old Kristopher Handy in May. The video release came just over two weeks after the department released edited and narrated versions of the footage from the May 13 shooting.
There have been six officer-involved shootings in Anchorage this year — four of them fatal.
In a release, LaFrance stated, “We cannot and we will not accept this as a new normal in Anchorage.”
“As a community member, as mayor, as a mom of a 16-year-old, I am heartbroken that we have lost such a young life in our community,” LaFrance said. “To the family of Easter Leafa, I am so incredibly sorry for your loss. This young woman deserved to be safe in our community, and you deserved so much more time with her.”
LaFrance and Case announced that the Tuesday night shooting that killed 16-year-old Easter Leafa would be investigated by an independent, third-party team, instead of the standard internal investigation by APD.
They also said that an outside investigator would “conduct a comprehensive review of APD’s training, tactics, and supervision and make recommendations for change.”
Case announced changes within the police department, including a public report to be published on findings from the past 15 years of officer-involved shootings, and a “newly-promoted” captain, who will start their new role on Aug. 26.
Case also said a new community advisory committee will be established in what he called efforts to “provide the community a formal role in advising APD.”
In response, several Anchorage Assembly members announced plans to advance conversations with the mayor and police department on maintaining transparency with the community.
North Anchorage representative Daniel Volland and Midtown representatives Felix Rivera and Meg Zaletel wrote in a release that they want to see immediate Assembly review on non-lethal training policies, third-party auditors, and a civilian oversight model by next spring, among other points.
In a separate announcement, West Anchorage representative Kameron Perez-Verdia said the Assembly plans to host a special committee meeting next Wednesday at City Hall to foster a conversation on police interactions within the community.
“During next week’s special committee meeting, I invite the Administration to present a detailed overview of the action plan announced today and welcome the ideas and priorities of my fellow assembly members to engage in the partnership it will take to make meaningful change,” Perez-Verdia stated.
“When tragedy happens, it hurts all of us,” he continued. “Public officials should hear from the community, expressing real emotions and feelings around this issue and figure out how we move forward.”
Raw body, dash camera video of deadly May 2024 shooting of Kris Handy released
The only changes to the raw video of Handy’s death, according to APD, were the blurring of Handy’s body after he was shot, as well as some faces of innocent people “to maintain privacy and security.”
“Otherwise, they are unedited,” police wrote in their statement.
Police initially said they responded to a domestic disturbance call in the early morning hours of May 13 when Handy emerged from the apartment with squad car lights shining at him.
In a previously released security video provided to Alaska’s News Source, Handy appears with a long gun pointed downward at his right side. He doesn’t appear to raise the gun in the video.
At least 10 shots can be heard as Handy immediately collapsed to the ground, where his body laid, according to neighbors, for several hours. Handy died on the scene.
In the months since the shooting, community members and organizations have called for the release of the police body cam footage in what they call efforts for transparency.
Last month, the Department of Law said that the four Anchorage police officers who fired their guns — Sgt. Noel Senoran, Officer Jacob Jones, Officer Jacob Ostolaza, and Officer James Stineman — were “legally justified” for shooting and killing Handy, according to an Office of Special Prosecutions review.
The nine videos posted by the police department depict each officer’s body-worn camera.
Warning: The footage released by Anchorage Police depicts graphic elements that may be disturbing to some viewers.
- Body cam video 1
- Body cam video 2
- Body cam video 3
- Body cam video 4
- Body cam video 5
- Body cam video 6
- Body cam video 7
- Dash cam video 8
- Body cam video 9
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