The eighth officer-involved shooting of the year unfolded during the early morning hours of Saturday, October 13th.

The incident began at 4:10 am when an Alaska State Trooper performed a routine traffic stop on a mini-van near the roundabout at Trunk Road near the Parks Highway east of Wasilla. As the trooper was talking to one of the passengers in the vehicle, which contained two men and a woman, the driver, identified as 22-year-old Anchorage resident Nicholas Leo Frazier, stepped from the vehicle and opened fire on the officer.

Although the man fired multiple shots at the trooper, how many exactly has not been disclosed. Nor has the number of hits the officer took. Troopers did report that the officer sustained superficial wounds to his head and neck.

The trooper returned fire on Frazier, shooting an undisclosed amount of times. The gunman then sped away in the trooper’s vehicle.

Officers from Anchorage,Wasilla, Palmer and the Alaska State Troopers sped to the scene. They would find the wounded officer’s patrol car about a mile away from the shooting, with Frazier still in it, dead. It is unkown if Frazier died from wounds inflicted by the trooper or if his death was caused by his own hand. Frazier’s remains have been turned over to the State Medical Examiner’s office in Anchorage for autopsy and determination of exact cause of death. The results are expected Monday.

The wounded trooper was transported to the hospital to be treated for non-life threatening injuries. He was released from the hospital at 9 am Saturday morning.

The two remaining occupants of the vehicle were interviewed and the van and patrol car were inspected in an attempt to determine the exact sequence of events, how many shots were fired, and to determine the cause of death of Frazier. The findings of those actions will be referred to the Department of Law’s Office of Special Proseution and Appeals for review.

Following protocol, the name of the officer involved in the shooting incident will be released in 72 hours.

According to court records, Frazier had three recent cases open in court. He had a Driving with License Revoked/ Suspended, a Burglary II charge in May of this year which he did not appear for in September, which prompted the judge in the case to issue a warrant, and a felony Assault II weapons charge as well as two Assault III weapons charges that were filed in September. A warrant was issued in the Assault cases as well.

Frazier’s next of kin have been notified.

This most recent Officer involved shooting marks the eighth such incident this year. This year’s incidents now equal the total of Officer involved shootings for 2009,2010, and 2011 combined.