2 Alaska troopers shot, gunman found dead

Updated June 18, 2012, 12:28 AM ET

(CBS/AP) ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Authorities say a standoff in a remote Alaska town that left two state troopers injured has ended with the alleged gunman taking his own life.

Alaska State Troopers spokeswoman Beth Ipsen says Arvid Nelson Jr. of Kotzebue died Sunday evening of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Authorities say that in a shooting that touched off the hours-long standoff, one of the troopers was wounded seriously and was flown to Anchorage from the Arctic Circle town of Kotzebue. The other trooper suffered less serious injuries.

The standoff began Sunday morning after troopers responded to a report of shots possibly fired.

City Attorney Joe Evans witnessed the shooting and said the incident began at about 9:15 a.m. as he was having breakfast with police Chief Craig Moates.

Moates took a call that there may have been shots fired from a man in a pickup truck toward a police officer in a patrol car and Evans accompanied the chief to where the pickup had crashed into a guardrail.

By that time, Evans said, three patrol cars had arrived carrying two Kotzebue police officers and the two state troopers. Evans and the chief observed from 75 to 100 yards away, expecting a quick resolution.

"When I arrived, I thought nothing else was going to happen," Evans said.

With a Kotzebue officer driving a patrol car, at least two officers on foot approached the pickup. The officers on foot were shielded by the open front doors of the patrol car. Evans said there may have been two officers walking on the driver's side plus one on the passenger side.

The patrol car drove about 1 mph, he said, and when it was about 15 yards from the pickup, shots rang out. A trooper behind the driver's side door crumpled to the ground.

The other officers came to his assistance and placed the wounded man in the car. The patrol car backed up with the wounded man inside.

At least one officer returned fire but it's unknown whether the suspect was struck, Ipsen said.

The others officers gathered near the chief's car, Evans said. The second trooper said his head hurt, Evans said, and when he took off his cap, he noticed he was bleeding.

"There was a track across his head," Evans said.

The trooper had suffered either a graze from a bullet or possibly, shrapnel from a piece of a bullet off a ricochet, Evans said. The trooper at first declined treatment but then drove to the clinic. He also escorted Evans from the scene.

The Kotzebue airport was shut down to non-emergency traffic because the pickup was near the end of the runway, Ipsen said.

Evans had said police have shown a lot of patience with the man in the truck.

"I think in a bigger city, it would have been over a couple of hours ago," he said.