This story has been updated with additional information.
An active shooter situation in the village of Kake has been resolved without injury, Organized Village of Kake President Joel Jackson told the Empire Tuesday, as the suspect surrendered peacefully to Alaska State Troopers.
Jackson said around 2:30-3 a.m. he received word someone had broken into the local elementary school. Upon further investigation, Jackson said he heard gunshots being fired.
“About 2:30, 3 o’clock, I got notice somebody broke into the grade school,” Jackson said. “We went out there and heard rounds being shot off in the housing units that we have up there.”
Jackson declined to go into much detail about the suspect but said he understood the man’s wife was with him when he turned himself over to police.
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Alaska State Troopers arrested the man on a criminal trespass charge, according to Alaska State Troopers spokesperson Austin McDaniel, the Associated Press reported. Troopers in a statement said other charges were possible, pending the outcome of their investigation.
Jackson said there are no permanently stationed law enforcement officers in Kake. Village Public Safety Officers are only present in two-week stints, he said, so the community is without law enforcement for half of every month. As village president, Jackson said he is often called on to handle situations typically handled by police.
“I’ve responded to two other incidents where weapons were involved, I had to take care of it, I responded to it, calmed those people down and took their weapons,” Jackson said. “Most of these guys know me. I grew up with them. I get scared, but I don’t want somebody else to get hurt. I don’t want to see anybody get hurt.”
• Contact reporter Peter Segall at psegall@juneauempire.com. Follow him on Twitter at @SegallJnuEmpire.
