Anchorage police release new details about an officer-involved shooting in Mountain View

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Anchorage police are releasing new details about the fatal police shooting in Mountain View that left a 24-year-old man dead late last month.

According to police, James V. Afuvai was shot by an officer in Mountain View on Sept. 29 after he charged at the officer with a 12-inch knife, according to police.

It was the eighth officer-involved shooting in the city in 2024 and the fifth fatal shooting.

In a press conference following the incident, APD Chief Sean Case said the officer involved responded to a 911 call in the 500 block of North Park Street regarding a man who had been injured in an emergency.

Anchorage police spokeswoman Renee Oistad later confirmed that it was Afuvai who made the 911 call, leading officers to believe the situation may have been a mental health crisis. Case said the officer was waiting in his patrol car for assistance from the Mobile Intervention Team when Afuvai approached him with the knife.

In an interview with Alaska’s News Source, James’ sister Makerita Afuvai said her brother was recently diagnosed with schizophrenia while in an assisted living facility in Mountain View, but did not have any violent tendencies or history.

According to Makerita Afuvai, when her other brother, Johnny, spoke to Afuvai about half an hour before the police encounter, he appeared to be perfectly fine. She said staff at the assisted living facility reported that Afuvai left the property shirtless shortly after visiting his brother. According to the family, he was not seen with a knife in his hand at the time.

“We rage, we are angry, we are heartbroken, we are confused. We still have not received answers to our questions,” Makerita Afuvai told Alaska’s News Source. “In order for him to contact APD for help, he must have seen something outside of his home, someone could be injured, someone could have gotten into something. I think there were multiple situations happening near the same block at the same time and he may have been caught in the middle.”

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