BB-gun wielding man shot dead identified by police

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The man who was shot by police on Monday evening in Anchorage had pulled a BB gun that was fashioned to look like a .45 caliber pistol. The man was 31-year-old Bishar Ali Hassan; died after police attempted life saving measures and after he was taken to a hospital.

Anchorage Police Chief Justin Doll said Hassan was stopped by police at 16th and A Street in midtown, after people had reported him waving a gun on the street and while riding a city bus. The gun he pulled from his waistband and pointed at police was a replica-style BB gun, but it looked like a real firearm.

Hassan was already in trouble with the law and had been in court earlier in the day on Monday for a change-of-plea hearing, which was to continue later this month. He had been picked up on a warrant in March and was out on bail. Hassan was possibly of Somali origin. Media reports say he was using a Somali interpreter in court.

His hearing related to an incident in 2018, when Unalaska officers arrested him for unwanted sexual advances on a woman in a phone booth in that fishing port community. He was arrested for harassment in the 1st degree and had missed at least a couple of court appearances.

Beyond that, the trail disappears on Hassan, other than that he had received a Permanent Fund dividend since 2014, according to the Permanent Fund Division database.

25 COMMENTS

  1. APD is full of “shoot first and ask questions later.” Who in this city really feels safe with these policemen? It is no wonder, with the management of this city, this is the standard of care in all respects. Resident of this borough should start speaking up and look to outside sources to investigate the department and management of this borough.

    • Yes, because waving a gun around in a public place shouldn’t be taken seriously? More than likely did not follow commands and pointed it where he shouldn’t. And don’t bother with the crap about it only being a bb gun. I have one that you can’t tell from the real thing and when I have a split second to decide if a gun threatening me is real or not, I will choose my life over the perp every time.

  2. I tend to agree with Diana. But it doesn’t stop with APD, it is also the troopers. There is no negotiation anymore, just spray and pray. The law enforcement mentality in this state mirrors LAPD’s mentality, its us against them. If the governor was truly wanting a change in the criminal justice system then he would start by investigating and revamping how law enforcement is performed in this state!

  3. Seriously?! Pull a gun on a cop and you will be shot and most likely killed. What, you expect the cops to wait until he starts gunning them down before returning fire? That is an unreasonable and ridiculous expectation.

    • The other day while on a walk, I saw a police officer sitting in his vehicle. I approached him because I thought he might be able to answer a question (which he did). The first thing he did before talking to me was to get out of his vehicle and face me standing up on the sidewalk instead of remaining seated in his vehicle. Contrast this with the fact that when they contact you for whatever reason while you’re sitting in a vehicle, they won’t allow you to get out of your vehicle and converse with them on those same terms. When I started driving cab in 1994, one of the first things I learned was that being seated in a vehicle is one of the most vulnerable positions you can find yourself in (“sitting duck” were the exact words used). Explain why it appears that they operate from the perspective that one set of rules apply to them while another set of rules apply to everyone else.

      • Because they don’t want to be ambushed and killed. This isn’t trial by combat where the playing field must be fair. Another thing they will do is call for backup when they suspect they need it. The rules are that they do a job where they potentially deal with violent felons on a daily basis and their families deserve to have them cone hone at night. Your sense of chivalry doesn’t affect this whatsoever.

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        What is with the sovereign citizen set in these parts?

  4. Not really, did he point it at them? did he say he was going to kill them? all the report said id he was waving what “appeared” to be a gun. I am a retired LEO and I understand what officer safety means but this is getting stupid. There have been 5 officer involved shootings in this state in the past seven days! I say enough, get back to the basics and stop killing people just because you have a gun and badge!

  5. You cop haters are what is wrong with our society. Cops don’t leave their families wanting to hurt anyone. I see cops all the time. Men and women just regular people but y’all want to take the side of the criminal it’s disgusting.

  6. “On an average day in America, at least one person is killed by police. Most of those killings are surely justifiable, but some raise questions about whether deadly force was necessary..
    How many times questionable shootings happen is impossible to know, because the FBI, which keeps reams of reliable statistics on all sorts of violence, doesn’t reliably track killings by police.
    Police departments aren’t required to report those incidents to the FBI, and most don’t, particularly those with lethal-force problems..”

    https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2015/04/01/non-lethal-alternatives-police-force-editorials-debates/70806112/

  7. pretty open and shut case if ya ask me. this is what happens when you point a gun, real or not, at a cop. how or why that concept is lost on people is beyond me. I have to imagine that being a cop nowadays is incredibly challenging. and not simply because of the work itself, but the fact that you can no longer do your job without encountering scrutiny around every corner. yes, there are some “cops” out there who should not have a badge and a gun. but these are the minority, in my opinion. a lot of the public forgets that cops are people too. and thanks to the mainstream media who perpetuate the idea that all cops are racist murderers, I don’t see that misconception going away anytime soon.

  8. People have got to understand that there are more criminals out on the streets today than there have ever been, thanks to SB91. There are clearly plenty of mental health patients running around out there too, which only contribute to the problem. But, we ask our police officers and troopers to react to these people on our behalf, when families, clinicians and government entities have failed, and then unfairly criticize them for engaging with these people who present a clear threat to society. I don’t want to see anyone unnecessarily killed. But when you add a firearm, whether actual or imitation, or any deadly weapon along with alcohol and narcotics to the mix, it becomes a recipe for deadly force. Officers undergo shoot/don’t shoot scenario training, which teaches escalate and de-escalation training, but a person acting unreasonably with a weapon in their hand presents a real threat to the public safety. The fact is that with a firearm, in a face to face scenario, officers cannot utilize Hollywood scenarios to disarm a suspect. At 15 feet in imperfect lighting, you cannot determine if a handgun is real or a toy. Since you never know exactly when a suspect will fire the weapon intentionally, or indiscriminately, risking bystander injury, the officers must eliminate the threat; Wounding is not an option in the moment. Defensive shooting is reactive and cops are not trained to wound, but to eliminate the threat. Think about it, cops are human and want to go home to their families at the end of their shift, so there is a survival component to every shooting event we hear about. The point is this; don’t waive a dangerous weapon around in public and expect not to be taken to task for it. Thanks to the officers for doing the hard job and standing in the gap; most of us appreciate what you do.

  9. I’m surprised at some of the comments on this story. This forum usually is filled with people fed up with crime in this city. Everyone has had enough. Theft is rampant. murder, rape, assault. It is everywhere.
    .
    This person pulled a gun and walked towards police officers. I don’t know of any city in America where the outcome wouldn’t have been the same. The officers of this city – or any city cannot wait “to see what happens” when a person aims a gun at them and does not respond to a command to stop.
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    This is what they are trained to do. This is what happens to you when you pull a gun on police officers. It is pretty simple. Do not pull a gun on police officers. Fake gun, plastic gun, look-a-like gun, real gun. Don’t do it. It will probably be the last thing you do.

    • I probably shouldn’t admit this, but pulling out a fake gun was precisely what I did to J. B. Carnahan in 1987 when he was still part of the Fairbanks Police Department. No gun was pulled on me, no arrest was made, no lecture was given. It’s been well acknowledged that police officers these days are largely hired straight out of the military and don’t leave their killer mentality behind, just like a lot of the crime they’re fighting is the result of people not leaving their prison mentality behind in prison. Human discernment is badly lacking all around.

      • Sean, happy you weren’t killed. However, I can’t travel down the same thought process as you regarding “police officers these days are largely hired straight out of the military and don’t leave their killer mentality behind”. I think it is more due to the climate today on the streets is WAY different then it was in 1987.
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        I hope you are smarter now too. Please don’t do that again 🙂

        • Yes, I would like to believe that I’m far more mature than that nowadays. Looking over the media coverage of this incident, almost all of it appears to originate straight from APD’s media apparatus. Curious that I have yet to see a photo released of this person, though. One morning recently, I witnessed a Somali man acting and talking erratically in public, followed by the cops hauling him off. I assume it’s the same person, though it’s hard to say. KTVA posted a table of catch-and-release data from DOC, but no photo other than the same distant shot of the scene everyone else posted on their site.

      • Was someone on trial for having ambushed a police officer that week? Had you recently arrived from a country known for actual piracy and lack of documentation? Had you recently sexually assaulted an unknown woman on the street? Did the officer know your were just a stupid kid that had an obvious BB gun?

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        There is a lot more here to lament than police P&P and hiring practices. Like maybe diversity is NOT our strength and community means more than an ersatz blob of human individuals with a double dose of identity politics and nothing to lose.

  10. Classic case of “play stupid games; win stupid prizes”.

    Sad, but easily avoided until it wasn’t.

  11. Why is it so hard for some on here to realize that these shootings usually take one, two, three, four…..BANG seconds. If I was a LEO I would want to go home to my family.

    Thanks to the big O, respect for LEO is at a all time low. Its easy to criticize what YOU
    won’t do!

    Got a Nixle the other night. Our whole area was locked down. The issue started a block from my house and the shooting happened a couple miles away. We closed the drapes and made sure we were armed since the Nixle doesn’t tell what’s going on. I am thankful that the LEO had it handled and I we were safe. BTW it all started with shot fired by the now deceased one not LEO!

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