The man, who had several firearms in his vehicle, including a shotgun and a rifle, was cited for violating post policy and released. The firearms were registered and had been secured for transport.
For privacy reasons, the name of the man, and whether he is a civilian or enlisted is not being released, Fort Wainwright spokeswoman Linda Douglass said.
“Essentially he was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” she said.
However, Fort Wainwright police have determined that the man they contacted outside the school is not the armed man they were anonymously tipped off about at around 10:30 a.m. Friday nor have authorities released a description of that man.
“Currently, investigators are developing leads into both the identification of the suspect and of the individual who brought the tip forward,” Douglass said.
The initial report put Arctic Light Elementary School and surrounding buildings into lockdown for about three hours as about 20 law enforcement officers, including some from the Fairbanks Police Department searched for the suspect.
Under Alaska law, it is a misdemeanor to possess a firearm on school grounds without the permission of a school or school district administrator.
Civilians and military personnel are required to register firearms with the post before bringing them on to Fort Wainwright. Soldiers and civilians are prohibited from carrying weapons on post but are allowed to transport guns to authorized firing ranges, hunting areas or their homes.
The person who made the original call or anyone else with information about the case is asked to call 361-TIPS (361-8477) or visit the Fort Wainwright police department.
Contact staff writer Chris Freiberg at 459-7545.
It just so happens that I have a pass (seasonal) to travel on Ft. WW and no where on it does it say that my vehicle is subject to be searched at anytime or for any reason! I've been traveling on Ft. WW since the early 80s! I have never been stopped or questioned for anything!
The only problem I ever had was when one of the so-called security people grabbed (snatched) my driver's license out of my hand. I or anyone else is only required to show proof of identification. I am under no legal obligation to physical hand over my license to them! They can read it when I am holding onto it. He had no business taking it from me! The MP on duty at that time agreed!
On school safety; same rules apply, or should.
I hope whoever called it in has contacted the authorities to assist.
If the authorities had a description of the man who was reported to be carrying gun(s) on Ft. WW, on or near Arctic Light school and as it turns out, this person was the wrong man, why was his vehicle even searched? I am not a legal scholar by any stretch, but it seems to me to have been an unreasonable and/or unlawful search!
The article states his weapons were registered and secured in his vehicle, so obviously they were not readily accessible to him so that he potentially could cause any harm to anyone, including but not limited to school children!
Lastly, does Alaska law about having guns on school property, apply seeing as this is a military installation! Just asking because I don't know the answer!
did you guys quit reading after the second paragraph? if you're wondering why he got cited for something, i've got the answer.
"Under Alaska law, it is a misdemeanor to possess a firearm on school grounds without the permission of a school or school district administrator."
though it was phrased rather poorly, i think "post policy" in this article refers to the above law.
Perhaps in the future they should send maybe 1 officer to investigate. And if everything is calm and quiet it's probably some guy minding his own business and some fool freaking out. if a person with a gun at a school was going to cause trouble, you would already know about it by the time officer #1 shows up, and HE can call for backup then, instead of causing a panic right off the bat with a massive surging swarm of guns and adrenaline.
simple rule: at any time, a person has a 10% chance of making a mistake. so anytime you have more than 10 people gathered to do anything, there is a 100% chance that at least 1 person will error. That's really bad news for an honest citizen surrounded by trigger happy cops with guns.
Had someone opened fire with loss of life, the questions would be, why didn't they do more? why didn't they stop every car? etc.
Police officers have good outcomes dozens of times a day, and no one hears about them unless it's a huge story. Mistakes happen. If there is no room for that, what are officers supposed to do?
If this was a knowing screw-up, there are procedures to deal with that. I can't imagine that it was.
JAMES MADISON
"Americans [have] the right and advantage of being armed, unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust their people with arms."
SAMUEL ADAMS
"The Constitution shall never be construed to prevent the people of the United States, who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms . . ."
NOAH WEBSTER
"The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops that can be, on any pretence, raised in the United States"
TENCHE COXE
"[T]he unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the federal or state governments, but, where I trust in God it will ever remain, in the hands of the people."
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
"They that can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."
Richard Henry Lee - Senator, First Congress
"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of people always possess arms..."
great "logic".
so, let's carry it to a bigger "gun":
nulcear weapons don't kill people people with nuclear weapons kill people.
thus, db is in favor of iran have the bomb, brazil having the bomb, ireland having the bomb, everyone have a bomb!
The above site only goes to the late 90's.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_shooting
This site includes more recent shootings.
I'm not against guns, but we far from the days when you could take yer rifle ta school for a litt' shootin' practice after the day end. Please protect my children while they are at school, thank you!
Evidently the man they mistakenly detained had a good number of guns in his vehicle, but knew enough about gun safety to have them properly secured and was released. Its nice to know that some gun aficionados know how to properly use and store their weapons.
You will stand here and rant about how bad they are, yet, who are you going to call...
I imagine you also hate the fire department.
Do you have any idea what the world would be like without police? It's called anarchy and it isn't cool or fun. I've been stopped by the police a few times in my 40 years and have never had the things happen to me that so many of you swear happens. If you think you can do such a better job, why not join and make a difference instead of tossing out random "cops suck" comments. Go back to watching your day time court tv shows.