After an investigation into the officer-involved shooting on March 9th in Wasilla, it was concluded by the Office of Special Prosecution and Appeals that Trooper Daron Cooper was justified in believing that Wasilla Police Department Officer Brandon Gray was about to be hit by the suspect vehicle when he opened fire on the vehicle’s driver.

It was on March 9th at 8:37 pm that a concerned citizen called in a REDDI report to the Mat-Com Dispatch Center on a white Chevy pickup which had pulled in to a parking lot at 1501 East Parks Highway. The caller also provided a license plate number of the vehicle and Mat-Com broadcasted a locate to troopers and Wasilla officers.

A trooper located the vehicle in the parking lot at 8:44 pm. He parked his patrol car behind the pickup that was occupied by two males, a passenger and the driver that was later identified as 52-year-old Gordon Samel. When the officer knocked on the side of the vehicle, it took off and circled around several small businesses in the area before re-entering the Parks Highway and heading south in the northbound lane. It traveled in that lane for a short distance then jumped the meridian and entered the southbound lane.

The pickup continued on until reaching South Hermon Road and entered that roadway then turned on East Whispering Woods Drive and drove to the intersection of the Seward Meridian Highway, where the pickup then turned completely around.

Two trooper vehicles and a Wasilla patrol car quickly encircled the stopped vehicle and a trooper and Wasilla police officer emerged from their vehicles and approached the pickup. As they did so, the pickup began reversing directly toward the Wasilla officer.

It was at that time, 9:07 pm, that the trooper and officer opened fire with their handguns, striking Samel. Samel died at the scene. The passenger also sustained injuries to his arm in the incident. The unidentified passenger was treated and released.

It was determined that no criminal charges are warranted against the trooper or the Wasilla police officer.

Gordon Samel was one of the three moose hunters that found the remains of Christopher McCandless in 1992. The story of McCandless would be made into the movie, “Into the Wild.”

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