Suspect in custody following shooting in the Wasilla area Thursday evening

WASILLA — Law Enforcement Officers took 57-year-old Patrick E. Marrs II of Anchorage into custody on Thursday night after Marrs refused to yield for a traffic stop by a Wasilla Police Officer and exchanged gunfire that injured an officer.

Alaska State Troopers reported that at 4:55 p.m., WPD attempted a traffic stop on Marrs near Helen Lane on Bogard Road. Marrs failed to stop, accelerating away from the WPD officer at a high rate of speed for nearly three miles before coming to a stop at Valley Country Store at the corner of Bogard Road and Seldon Road.

On Friday, Marrs was charged with attempted murder in the first degree, assault in the first degree, assault in the second degree, misconduct involving a weapon in the third degree, failure to stop at the direction of a peace officer and providing false information to a peace officer. Marrs was taken to the Anchorage Correctional Complex.

“It was there that a volley of gunfire was exchanged between the male driver of the suspect vehicle and the pursuing officer. As a result of the gunfire, the officer was injured, as well as a female passenger inside the suspect vehicle,” wrote Alaska State Trooper Public Information Officer Austin McDaniel in an update Thursday night.

Marrs then fled on foot before he was arrested 59 minutes later at 5:54 p.m. Marrs was found more than three quarters of a mile from Valley Country Store near Sierra Street, which is in between Anderson Lake and King’s Lake. Marrs had four felony warrants and a misdemeanor arrest warrant and was taken to Mat-Su Pretrial by the AST General Investigations Unit, who assumed case responsibility.

Troopers thanked the response of WPD, Anchorage Police Department, the AST Special Crimes Investigation Unit, the Alaska Wildlife Troopers, the Alaska Bureau of Investigation, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in apprehending Marrs. More than a dozen police vehicles, including a large armored vehicle closed off westbound traffic on Seldon following the shooting as Law Enforcement Officers pursued and apprehended Marrs.

The identity of the WPD officer responsible for utilizing deadly force will be released on Sunday night. As of Thursday night, troopers had not released the name or the health of the female occupant of Marrs’ vehicle. On Friday, troopers confirmed that the female occupant of Marrs’ vehicle was treated and released from the hospital.