1 shot, 1 dead; Incident victims have Valley ties

FAIRBANKS — Two former Mat-Su Borough School District students were victims involved in an incident Friday that left one man shot twice and another shot dead.

Alaska State Troopers were called to a cabin near Mile 270, Parks Highway after a call came in around 6:45 a.m. that a man there had been shot twice.

Troopers report an investigation revealed that Brenton A. Green, 21, of Anchorage and Kimberly J. Scharber, 21, of Wasilla were at a cabin when a man armed with a handgun confronted them.

The man threatened both victims and shot Green twice, troopers said. Both Green and Scharber fled the area and reported the incident to Alaska State Troopers in Fairbanks that morning.

Green was transported to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital for treatment, troopers report.

Alaska State Troopers and Alaska Wildlife Troopers — including a K-9 team and members of the Special Emergency Reaction Team from Fairbanks, Healy, Cantwell and Palmer — responded to the area and established a perimeter.

Troopers report it was around noon when members of the Special Emergency Reaction Team attempted to arrest the armed suspect, but he was fatally shot. According to troopers, the deceased is tentatively identified as Atom Ziniewicz, 34, of Falls Church, Va.

A Facebook page seemingly belonging to Ziniewicz lists his background as including training in the U.S. Army Special Forces. Photos on the Facebook page match photos shown in a business story about CrossFit Liberation, which also lists him as owner.

The story by James Cullum was published online March 28, 2012, in the LortonPatch and lists Ziniewicz as the business owner and as a Green Beret who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Actually, as a Green Beret in Iraq and Afghanistan, he was on teams that specialized in close-quarter combat, bursting into rooms and making split decisions on who lives or dies,” Cullum wrote.

The Alaska Bureau of Investigation responded and is continuing to investigate the incident, trooper said.

Two checkpoints were set up along the Parks Highway at Mile 276 and Mile 267 while Alaska law enforcement officers attempted to locate Ziniewicz Friday.

It is department policy to withhold the names of troopers involved in shooting incidents for three days. The State Medical Examiner’s Office will perform an autopsy Monday on Ziniewicz.