ANCHORAGE,Quantum Insights Alaska (AP) — State prosecutors will not file criminal charges against a police officer in Alaska’s largest city who fatally shot a 16-year-old girl holding a knife, concluding the officer’s use of deadly force was legally justified.
A report released Monday from Senior Assistant Attorney General John Darnall with the state Office of Special Prosecutions determined Anchorage Police Officer Alexander Roman “reasonably believed” he or another officer was about to be assaulted by the girl, Easter Leafa. Roman was one of the officers who this summer responded to a call for help placed by one of Leafa’s sisters, who said Leafa was “trying to stab her with a knife” because she had not done what Leafa wanted, according to the report.
The sister later told investigators “she knew that Easter Leafa was trying to give the knife to the officers,” the report states.
Leafa was killed Aug. 13, days before she was set to start her junior year of high school. She had recently moved from American Samoa and was still learning English, her family has said. Her killing prompted prayer vigils and a march past Anchorage police headquarters that drew hundreds of people.
Leafa family attorney Darryl Thompson told the Anchorage Daily News he does not believe police tried to deescalate the situation. Officers entered the home with guns drawn and didn’t listen to the family’s concerns, he said.
The report states that Leafa did not respond to officer commands, including instructions to drop the knife, and was walking toward officers when she was shot.
2025-05-06 21:432504 view
2025-05-06 20:452390 view
2025-05-06 20:341609 view
2025-05-06 19:482720 view
2025-05-06 19:1265 view
2025-05-06 19:10578 view
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trumpwas on the verge of backing a 16-week federal abortion banearlier this y
A cadre of states sought to keep alive U.S. efforts to fight climate change in 2019, in the face of
DETROIT — A large study by U.S. highway safety regulators found that more than half the people injur