Alaska State Troopers, on Monday, released the name of the trooper involved in a fatal officer-involved shooting that occurred on Friday, that officer is identified as one-year Fairbanks-based trooper Garrett Stephens.

At 2:41 am on Friday, troopers observed a silver jeep operating recklessly near the Gold Rush Estates trailer park according to their report. During that time, the  Jeep nearly collided with the trooper vehicle forcing that trooper to take evasive action.

The trooper attempted a traffic stop but the driver, later identified as Dimitri Lanahan, age 23, of Anchorage, chose instead to speed away taking the trooper on a  car chase.

“The vehicle eventually led the Trooper to a wooded area between the Fairbanks Airport and the Tanana River flood dike, where the driver and sole occupant of the Jeep exited the vehicle and pointed what appeared to be an assault rifle at the Trooper,” it was reported by AST. Trooper Stephens discharged his duty weapon fatally injuring Lanahan.

It would be found after that what appeared to be a weapon was in fact a replica designed to appear as an assault rifle.

The vehicle Lanahan was driving was found to have been stolen out of Anchorage.

Lanahan also had a no-bail arrest warrant for Escape II.

“The Alaska Bureau of Investigation is now conducting a thorough investigation into the incident; once complete, their investigation will then be reviewed by the Alaska Office of Special Prosecutions,” AST reports.

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