Troopers shoot, kill Sutton man

SUTTON — A 58-year-old man Alaska State Troopers contacted to serve with a restraining order Wednesday was shot and killed following a standoff on Thursday.

According to an AST press release issued Friday afternoon, troopers went to a home in Sutton at 4:12 p.m., Wednesday to serve a domestic violence court order on Theodule LeJeune, 58, telling him, among other things, to leave the home.

“As troopers attempted to make contact with LeJeune and have him leave the residence peacefully, LeJeune retrieved a firearm and pointed it at the troopers,” troopers say in their statement.

Attempts to retrieve court records failed Saturday because the courthouse was closed for Memorial Day.

Anchorage Daily News reports based on those court documents that negotiations were done through a bedroom window. LeJeune hid in a bedroom closet and troopers tossed a pepper-spray device into the room, which filled with smoke. When LeJeune emerged from the closet he had a shotgun, which he pointed at troopers.

According to the press release, “the troopers retreated from the residence.”

Then troopers called the judge who issued the restraining order and were told they didn’t need LeJeune to leave the home if he wouldn’t go peacefully.

According to the Anchorage Daily News, LeJeune and the woman who filed for the restraining order against him owned the Sutton home jointly. She was asking him to leave the home but continue paying his share of the mortgage.

She said, according to the reports, that LeJeune had grown paranoid and terrifying, and that he threatened her with multiple guns.

After the judge told them they didn’t need to stick around, “troopers departed the residence and throughout the night and the next day other means were utilized in an attempt to get LeJeune to surrender peacefully. Included in these efforts were communication between family members and LeJeune, encouraging him to willingly comply with the court order,” the press release states.

Troopers then got a warrant to arrest LeJeune for assault, violating a protective order and disorderly conduct as well as a search warrant for the home.

At 6:23 p.m., Thursday troopers returned to the home, this time with a SERT team — what other jurisdictions refer to as a SWAT team — and one of their new Tactical Response Vehicles, or TRV.

Troopers say they “attempted to negotiate with LeJeune and attempted multiple times to disarm LeJeune with less lethal tools.”

Eventually, troopers say, LeJeune left the home with a gun. Troopers tried to disarm him, including somehow using the response vehicle.

“LeJeune fired upon troopers who had taken up tactical positions outside of the TRV. A trooper returned fire, striking LeJeune. LeJeune succumbed to his injuries and was declared deceased,” troopers report.

Troopers say they have no further information to release and that the trooper who shot LeJeune has been put on administrative leave for three days, after which his or her name will be released.

Contact Andrew Wellner at 352-2270 or andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com.