The family of Bishar Hassan, who was shot and killed by Anchorage police on April 1, 2019, is holding a rally and vigil Friday, to honor his memory and to call for justice, claiming his life should not have been cut short at the hands of police.
by Anchorage police on April 1, 2019, is holding a rally and vigil Friday, to honor his memory and to call for justice, claiming his life should not have been cut short at the hands of police.
The gun Hassan was carrying, investigators found, was a replica-style BB gun that looked like a handgun. The Alaska Black Caucus, advocating on behalf of Hassan’s surviving brother and mother, says officers should have resorted to other measures. “No one should ever produce a weapon at a police officer,” said Sgt. Jeremy Conklin, in an interview Thursday. “Our officers don’t know what your intent is. They can only assume that when somebody produces a weapon that they’re intending to hurt the officer. And we train them to react like that because training them to react in any other manner is going to get our officers killed.”