The U.S. Department of Justice announced on Thursday that Palmer man, 26-year-old Almando Abarca, who is awaiting sentencing in state court on attempted murder, felony destruction of a police dog and other crimes, was sentenced in federal court for being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm.

The conviction stems from a serious incident in September of 2016 along the Glenn Highway at mile 36 after he came to a stop while being chased towards Anchorage by Palmer police and Alaska State Troopers. According to the report and court documents, Abarca got out of his vehicle at that location and opened fire with a .40 caliber handgun.

During the exchange, Abarca also fired several rounds at trooper K9 “Helo,” mortally wounding the canine. Troopers and police returned fire, wounding and disabling him.

In October 2016, Abarca was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. He was convicted of Burglary in a prior September 2016 case.[xyz-ihs snippet=”Adsense-responsive”]Also, in October 2016, Abarca had been charged in state court on charges of Attempted Murder x2, Ztwo counts of Assault, and one count of Felony Destruction of a Police Dog.

Abarca pleaded guilty to the federal charge of Felon in Possession of a Firearm in October 2017 but proceeded to go to trial on the state charges in January 2018. He was convicted on all counts. He has yet to be sentenced in that case.

When sentencing Abarca to period of 10 years, Chief U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Burgess told Abarca that he was, “lucky to be alive and lucky that the court was limited as to the sentence which it could impose.”

  almando abarca, Anchorage, attempted murder, chase, conviction, federal, glenn highway, helo, k9, palmer, police, shooting, state, troopers