White/Caucasian male Louie Gordon Mizelle, age 35, was an Anchorage Police Department patrol officer who responded to reports of gunfire at an apartment complex in the Mountain View neighborhood on the night of June 5, 1989. Arriving around 9:30 p.m., he was met by a lone gunman who opened fire with a. 22-caliber rifle, striking the officer five times in the leg, abdomen, and chest. He was rushed into hours of surgery but succumbed to his wounds the following day, June 6, 1989.
The gunman was identified as Michael A. Washington, a 32-year-old Anchorage resident who had recently purchased the. 22-caliber semi-automatic rifle and prepared his apartment window as a firing position. After an overnight siege, police deployed tear gas, stormed the building, and arrested Washington. He was charged with first-degree murder for killing the officer.
Washington ultimately entered a no-contest plea to first-degree murder. A superior court judge imposed the maximum sentence of 99 years and ordered it served without the possibility of parole, citing the deliberate nature of the ambush, Washington's history of violent behavior toward law enforcement when off medication, and the danger he posed to the public. Separate memorial accounts of the case likewise note that the suspect received a 99-year term for the killing.
The officer had served roughly five and a half years with the Anchorage Police Department and left behind two children. His death is memorialized by law-enforcement honor rolls and community remembrances, including a city memorial that bears his name.
