ANCHORAGE — A volunteer fire official who died in an officer-involved shooting in a northern Alaska community was the nephew of a state lawmaker.
Vincent Nageak III, who died in the shooting early Wednesday morning involving North Slope Borough police in Barrow, was related to Rep. Benjamin Nageak, a Barrow Democrat.
The police officer involved was responding to a call for officer assistance about 3:38 a.m. Wednesday when the shooting occurred, borough spokesman John Boyle said in a news release. The officer, whose name is being withheld for 72 hours, was not injured. Police are not releasing further details.
The lawmaker’s office released a statement from the lawmaker and his wife, Bonnie, that says their “hearts and minds are still reeling” over the news and that they still don’t know all the facts. His office said he was trying to catch a flight home to Barrow from Juneau.
Vincent Nageak had been employed as the borough’s acting volunteer fire chief for Barrow, Boyle said.
House Speaker Mike Chenault, R-Nikiski, released a statement Wednesday afternoon on behalf of the state House, saying lawmakers were sending condolences and “our greatest sympathies and prayers to Ben, Bonnie and the rest of the Nageak family.” The statement said lawmakers were honoring the family’s request for privacy and patience.
Barrow, 725 miles north of Anchorage, also was the site of a December 2014 shooting in which a state prosecutor was killed. A man accused of shooting Assistant District Attorney Brian Sullivan in a jealous rage over a woman is charged with first- and second-degree murder. He is tentatively scheduled for trial in late May.
In Wednesday’s shooting, the borough has asked for the help of Alaska State Troopers and referred further questions to that agency. Troopers spokeswoman Megan Peters said no additional details were immediately available.
