Fairbanks is mourning the loss of a police officer. Sgt. Allen Brandt, 34, who was shot earlier this month, died Friday of complications following surgery to remove shrapnel from one of his eyes. Community members gathered for a candlelight vigil Friday night to honor and remember the 11 year Fairbanks Police Department veteran.
Hundreds of people held candles as acting police chief Brad Johnson, visibly shaken by the unexpected death of Brandt, addressed the gathering.
“I want you to know that all of us here feel your love,” Johnson said. “We love you too, and we’ll pass your love on to Allen’s family.”
Brandt, by all accounts, seemed to be on his way to recovering from multiple gunshot wounds, and his death Friday shocked the city. Mayor Jim Matherly recounted how earlier in the week Brandt had walked into city hall and addressed the council members.
”He spoke to us about being united, about what it was like to be a police officer,” Matherly said. “But this man was so selfless he actually said other cops have done more than he has done. He was the one who suffered this horrific event, yet he was thinking of his fellow officers.”
Matherly closed by asking the public to keep Brandt’s wife and four children in their thoughts and prayers.
According to the Fairbanks Police Department, Brandt was shot when he responded to a report of gunfire on a downtown street after midnight, on Oct. 16. Anthony Jenkins-Alexie, 29, of Anchorage, has been charged with multiple felonies, including attempted murder — a charge that Fairbanks prosecutors said may be amended, now that Brandt has died.
Brandt is the second FPD officer to be killed in the line of duty in recent history. Officer Kevin Lamb was shot and killed in 1998.
Services for Brandt are still being planned.
