UPDATE: Juneau police investigate shooting; kidnapping likely made up

Update 4:24 p.m.

Juneau Police now say  the shooting incident at Coho Park Apartments started over an altercation between the 44-year-old male who was shot and the 24-year-old male who is in police custody.

Lt. Dave Campbell says the two individuals knew each other.

“There was an argument between people that are familiar with each other. It’s not a random incident the general public needs to be too worried about,” Campbell says.

He says police know what the altercation was about but cannot release the information.

Police have determined that the 24-year-old male was driving a white truck with a plow during the shooting incident.

“Following the shooting, he left Coho Apartments and swapped out to a different vehicle that was a sedan and it was the sedan that he was ultimately contacted in at 8 o’clock this morning (Friday),” Campbell explains.

Campbell says police have located and seized both the sedan and the white truck.  The 26-year-old female, who was found in the sedan this morning with the 24-year-old, is in custody.

Also, two firearms were involved in the original report and Campbell says the police have both in evidence. One is a small caliber pistol and the other is a medium caliber pistol. Police know who they belong to, but Cambpell says he can’t release that information.

He adds that the possible kidnapping reported by a 22-year-old woman at 7:40 this morning appears to be a fabrication.

“We can’t get into the details specifically of why we believe that,” Campbell says. “From the information we’ve been able to put together, the report that the lady was kidnapped and held at gunpoint is not accurate.”

He says police are likely getting up to six search warrants. Juneau police have received help from the FBI and the U.S. Forest Service in the investigation. Campbell says no arrests have been made yet.

Update 3:30 p.m.

Juneau police say a kidnapping reported early Friday “is most likely a fabrication.” The made up kidnapping was being investigated along with a shooting reported just after midnight.

In an updated press release, police say the shooting occurred during an altercation between a 44-year-old male who was shot, and a 24-year-old male suspect. The suspect, who is being detained by police, was driving a flat bed truck during the shooting but later switched to a sedan. Both vehicles have been seized as evidence.

The investigation is ongoing.

Original post:

Juneau police are investigating a shooting reported just after midnight Friday and a possible kidnapping.

Lt. Dave Campbell says the shooting took place at the Coho Park Apartments, which are located in the 3600 block of Amalga Street. That’s about 1,200 feet away from Floyd Dryden Middle School.

“Roughly 17 minutes past midnight, the Juneau Police Department received multiple 911 calls that there had been shots fired and there was a man that had been injured and was bleeding,” Campbell says. “Within a matter of minutes police officers arrived on scene. We contacted a 44-year-old male who had been shot twice, once in the left shoulder and once in the left wrist.”

[googlemaps https://mapsengine.google.com/map/u/0/embed?mid=z4ukvTcI6LL4.kFI2jBc04QhE&w=640&h=640]

The man was taken to Bartlett Regional Hospital for treatment. Campbell says he doesn’t know the extent of the injuries but they didn’t appear to be life threatening. He says the man was conscious and aware.

According to a Juneau Police news release, officers searched the area of the apartments and interviewed several people. Witnesses reported hearing an argument, followed by several gunshots. Officers also located a small caliber pistol and several spent shell casings.

Later in the morning, around 7:40, Juneau police got a call of a possible kidnapping.

“We got a call from a lady who said that she had just basically escaped from a man who was involved in the shooting at the Coho apartments,” says Campbell. “Officers met with her and she said she had been held at gunpoint and that when the man fell asleep, she left, she fled.”

Campbell says the 22-year old woman described the car where she had been kept. According to the news release, she reported the male suspect was asleep in a vehicle on Gastineau Avenue.

When Juneau police went there, the car was gone. Campbell says the car described is “distinctive” although would not say why. He said it’s a car that Juneau police has had previous contacts with.

A little after 8 this morning, a police officer saw the car driving outbound on Egan Drive and turn onto Riverside Drive.

“The vehicle was eventually contacted and stopped on Julep Street,” he says. “Inside we ended up contacting two people, a male and a female. They are both detained and taken back to the Juneau Police Department.”

For about an hour and a half this morning, police closed Egan Drive between Vanderbilt Hill Road and Wal-Mart, diverting traffic to Glacier Highway. Campbell says police were looking for evidence tied to the shooting and possible kidnapping. Campbell says evidence was found but could not identify what it was.

Campbell says at this point, no one has been arrested and no names can be released.

(Casey Kelly, Matt Miller and Rosemarie Alexander contributed to this report)

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