The Anchorage Police Department released unseen body-worn camera footage of the fatal police shooting of Tyler May on June 3. The footage includes an edited video and five unedited videos from each officer’s camera.
On June 3, officers arrived at the Anchorage Senior Center at 9:38 p.m. with weapons drawn. They spotted May and his friend and ordered them to raise their hands. May’s friend complied, but May ran from the police after being told to get on the ground. A K9 was released, taking May to the ground. While being bitten, May screamed, and police told him to “drop the gun.”
Seven shots were fired, killing May. Police claim May pulled out a handgun while being bitten by the K9. However, the moment May allegedly pointed his gun at officers is not captured in the footage due to blurring.
Anchorage Police Department Chief Sean Case acknowledges the limitations of the footage and the need for transparency. He hopes to talk with the community about releasing raw, unedited videos. The case emphasizes the complexity of officer-involved shootings, where facts and circumstances become clear after the fact, leading to tragic outcomes.
He stresses that officers must make decisions in compressed timeframes, unlike the luxury of analyzing video frame by frame. The case aims to peel back layers of these incidents, understanding what officers knew at the time versus what investigations reveal later.
The release of the footage comes after the Office of Special Prosecutions found the officers involved were legally justified in their use of deadly force. The incident marked the third of seven officer-involved shootings in Anchorage since May.
This news story was originally published by Alaska News Source.
