Shooting in Kodiak Coast Guard Comms Station

[jgcoastie]

There's a few press releases out, I'm sure your google-fu is strong enough to find them if you want, but the gist of the story that I've gathered from my friends and shipmates up there is this;

Two people were found dead this morning at Communications Station Kodiak, one a Coastie, the other a retired Coastie (now working as a civilian there). I've heard from a couple people that a third victim was in critical condition, can't exactly confirm that at this time.

The shooter remains at-large. The place where this occurred is a secure facility with video surveillance, so either the shooter wore a mask, or law enforcement is keeping the ID of the shooter hush-hush for now. Either case is plausible.

Both of the people killed were acquaintances of mine when I was stationed up there. Officially, the names have not been released yet, so I won't do it here, not yet anyway.

Those who know Alaska, know that this type of thing is completely foreign there, especially in a small town on an island. It's practically unheard of.

I ask for your thoughts and prayers for the victims' families and the Coast Guard community. When I hear more, I'll update everyone.

 

[BarryLee]

Yes, I heard a blurb on the radio, but never any real details. It is shocking to hear about this happening at a secure military facility, but as we know things do happen. I will admit the first thought I had was if they knew the shooter.

 

[jgcoastie]

They had to have known the shooter, or the shooter had to have had access in some way or another. This particular building is not located within the gated/fenced confines of the actual base there, it's up the road a couple miles. However, they have their own system of security and what-not that is pretty stringent, though not stringent enough in retrospect...

 

[Sigasaurus Rex]

I would not be at all surprised if the shooter new at least one of the victims. Like any other homicide, I imagine that most of the ones committed on military bases are over one category of personal beef or another.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

Those who know Alaska, know that this type of thing is completely foreign there, especially in a small town on an island. It's practically unheard of.

"Unheardof" may be right from a public knowledge perspective, but not from a statistical perspective. In 2010, for example, Alaska had more murders than 9 other states, despite having the lowest population density.
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2010/crime-in-the-u.s.-2010/tables/10tbl20.xls
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_population_density

Interestingly, Alaska is the one state where firearm use for murders has rifles being used more frequently than handguns.

On top of that, Alaska's violent crime rate per 100,000 for 2010 was actually higher than most other locations in the US. The two exceptions look to be Nevada and the District of Columbia.
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2010/crime-in-the-u.s.-2010/tables/10tbl04.xls


http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2010/11/10/david-kenney-and-alaskas-bizarre-murder-case.html
http://explorenorth.com/library/weekly/aa021100a.htm
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-04-02-alaska-stabbings_N.htm
http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...NUwAAAAIBAJ&sjid=4t8FAAAAIBAJ&pg=1090,1504228
http://www.thenorthernlight.org/2011/11/01/thawing-out-alaskas-cold-case-murders/
http://simoneleclere.blogspot.com/2009/02/alaskan-murder-wrapped-in-enigma.html
http://www.amw.com/fugitives/brief.cfm?id=56413
http://alaskamidnightsun.blogspot.com/2004/06/mccarthy-massacre-mccarthy-ak-1983.html
http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20085889,00.html
http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2777547

 

[jgcoastie]

DNS, while I don't doubt the validity of the statistics you posted, I would think that the majority of crimes committed in AK is largely in Los Anchorage, Mat-Su Valley (both heavily populated, by AK standards at least), or in rural villages where alcohol is a major problem. That's compounded by the winter months, I believe.

I don't have any statistics to back that up, but that's my gut feeling.

Regardless, Kodiak has experienced a very, VERY abnormal crime. Most of the crimes I saw or heard of were drunk and disorderly and the like. People just don't murder people in Kodiak... It's rare... Very very rare...

Edit: Not to mention that this happened in a secure military communications facility... Not exactly a "walk in the door and say hi" kind of place.

The last time something like this happened that I remember, it was on St. Paul Island, at the LORAN-C station. Had something to do with an extramarital affair, IIRC. That was over 10 years ago...

 

[ltc444]

I wonder what the rules of engagement were.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

DNS, while I don't doubt the validity of the statistics you posted, I would think that the majority of crimes committed in AK is largely in Los Anchorage, Mat-Su Valley (both heavily populated, by AK standards at least), or in rural villages where alcohol is a major problem. That's compounded by the winter months, I believe.

I don't have any statistics to back that up, but that's my gut feeling.

Murders certainly are not common place, no doubt. Kodiak has less than 7,000 people and it looks like just one other murder since 2001. However, I think your gut is misleading you.

The population density of Kodiak is 1839 per square mile. Anchorage is 169. Mat-Su is just 4.

http://www.city-data.com/county/Matanuska-Susitna_Borough-AK.html
http://www.city-data.com/city/Kodiak-Alaska.html
http://www.city-data.com/city/Anchorage-Alaska.html

While crime (rate per 100K) in previous years has tended to be lower for Kodiak as compared to Anchorage, it isn't uncommon for Kodiak's crime (by type) to be higher, especially in 2010 where the overall crime rate was higher.

I could not find an exact match for Mat-Su data, but did find this...
http://recordspedia.com/Alaska/Matanuska-Susitna-Borough/Crime-Statistics
Looking at the crime graph, Mat-Su's overall crime rate is lower than Kodiak's and is lower in both violent crime and property crime. In comparing the years in common between Kodiak and Mat-Su, Mat-Su had the same number of murders (pie chart).

Kodiak also surpasses Juneau in various categories over the years...
http://www.city-data.com/crime/crime-Juneau-Alaska.html
Juneau's population density is about 11.3 per square mile.

Edit: Not to mention that this happened in a secure military communications facility... Not exactly a "walk in the door and say hi" kind of place.

In reading various accounts, the station is supposed to have a lot of security cameras. Also, base personnel are accounted for (no indication of anyone taking flight).
http://www.examiner.com/military-community-in-national/2-us-coast-guard-members-killed-alaska

So the shooter should be on video, given the security cams and the authorities should have had time to review the tapes and spot the shooter, but that apparently hasn't happened. If it had, you would expect a description being made known if they could not identify the person and some sort of arrest if they had identified the shooter. Odd.

 

[alloy]

The shooter remains at-large. The place where this occurred is a secure facility with video surveillance, so either the shooter wore a mask, or law enforcement is keeping the ID of the shooter hush-hush for now. Either case is plausible.

Aside from the tragedy of the situation...that's interesting....because the report I heard yesterday said "authorities believe the shooter may still be at large".
I have no idea what that actually means unless there are two groups of authorities and the wrong group was asked, or one of the victims was possibly the shooter. But hey, it's the media so clarity isn't a given.

 

[Bud Helms]

Gents, we let this one go for while, but the tragedy does not actually make this firearms related in the way we would like or expect. Crime reports seldom do.

With respect to jgcoastie's loss, this one is closed.