From the New York Post:
Alaska resident with rifle aids unarmed police after firearms incident
A 19-year-old Alaska man is facing attempted murder charges after breaking into a public safety building and firing on an unarmed village police officer, authorities said.
Troopers arrested Bryan Nicolai after a member of the Kwethluk community with a rifle arrived on scene and talked Nicolai into surrendering, the station reported.
Nicolai is accused of aiming a rifle at Lee and pulling the trigger, but the weapon didn’t fire. Troopers said Nicolai put on a ballistic vest, a helmet and staged multiple rifles after breaking into the building.
The village police are unarmed because of a lack of training due to a lack of funds.
The village has a population of 721 in the unorganized borough of Bethel, which has a population of 18,000 and a population density of 0.42 people/sq-mi.
So we’re not exactly talking about a big city with a prevalence for violent crime.
Note that when the lone village police officer came under fire it was a good guy with a gun who came to the rescue and ended it, and without a shot being fired.
Lack of training due to lack of funds? How long would it take a village resident to train on his own to meet police firearms proficiency standards? An hour, and a few dozen rounds?
Actually, the Post may have gotten this wrong. Not the bit about the good guy helping out the police, but the use of the term police in the first place.
A lot of Alaskan villages do not have police at all, and the reason has nothing to do with funding, or the ability to carry firearms. It has to do with the legal authority to enforce the law.
https://dps.alaska.gov/AST/VPSO/Home
I do not know the village in question at all, but I would guess the “police” that was threatened was actually a volunteer safety officer. Additionally, a lot of VSPOs choose not to carry a gun at all. It is a culture thing from what I understand.