Police: Fairbanks officer shot multiple times, suspect still at large

Last updated at 9:15 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 16

A manhunt is underway for a suspect allegedly seen on camera shooting a Fairbanks police officer just after midnight on Sunday.

The officer, identified as Sgt. Allen Brandt, suffered multiple gunshot wounds and has been flown to Anchorage for treatment of his injuries, which police spokeswoman Yumi McCulloch described as serious. As of 8 p.m., Brandt was stable, according to Fairbanks police.

In a statement released later Sunday, McCulloch explained the officer was shot after responding to multiple reports of shots fired on the 300 block of Seventh Avenue in Fairbanks.

Sgt. Allen Brandt. Photo: City of Fairbanks

“As multiple calls came into the Dispatch Center, a responding officer radioed that he was shot,” she wrote. “After shooting the officer, the suspect fled the scene in the officer’s patrol car.”

The patrol car was found a few blocks away, McCulloch said. Fairbanks police have released short clips from the patrol cars dashcam that allegedly show the suspect approaching and shooting the officer and then later walking away from the driver’s side, but the vehicle had since moved to another location.

“The suspect is an Alaska Native male in his 20s wearing a dark jacket, dark pants, and a knit hat,” McCulloch said.

McCulloch said no additional information about the incident was being released at this time.

She said police consider the man to be armed and dangerous and urged the public to use caution. Anyone with information on the identity or whereabouts of the suspect, or the shooting is asked to call Fairbanks police at 907-459-6800.

In another statement, McCulloch said Brandt has served on the Fairbanks police force for 11 years.

The City of Fairbanks website shows he graduated from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 2004 and was a member of Police Corps. He attended the Washington State Criminal Justice Academy before joining the Fairbanks Police Department on March 1, 2005. He was promoted to the rank of sergeant in March 2015, according a Facebook statement from the Fairbanks Police Department.