A Fairbanks, Ak. police officer who was shot earlier this month died Friday of complications from surgery related to his injuries, officials said.
(FOX)- Sgt. Allen Brandt, an 11-year veteran, had been hospitalized Thursday for a scheduled procedure to have shrapnel removed from his eye. Fairbanks Acting Police Chief Brad Johnson told reporters that Brandt had “suffered complications afterward which continued to deteriorate throughout the day and from which he was unable to recover.”
“Fairbanks lost a hero today,” an emotional Johnson said.
Brandt, a married father of four, was shot five times Oct. 16 while responding to a report of gunfire. Prosecutors said the officer was struck twice in the right leg, once in the left leg and once in the right foot. A grazing wound hit his right knee. Body armor stopped a shot to the chest, but at least two bullet fragments entered his right eye.
The suspect in the shooting, 29-year-old Anthony George Jenkins-Alexie, confessed to the shooting and wrote a letter of apology to Brandt.
“I am mental just a little bit,” the letter read in part. “You didn’t deserve it. I was seeking vengeance from [Fairbanks Police] for taking my relatives lives and closest friends. I was wrong.”
According to prosecutors, Jenkins-Alexie took Brandt’s gun from the officer’s hand while he was lying on the ground. He tried removing ammunition from Brandt’s duty belt but could not. He then stomped on Brandt’s head.
(Photo Credit: Fairbanks Police Department via Fox News)