The family of an armed man shot dead by law enforcement on Christmas Eve in Fairbanks is questioning how officers handled the incident.
Cody Eyre, 20, originally from Juneau, was shot by Alaska State Troopers and Fairbanks Police near the intersection of the Steese Highway and the Johansen Expressway, after they responded to a call about a distraught man with a gun walking along the road.
Investigation of the Dec. 24, 2017, shooting is ongoing and Alaska State Troopers, who are handling the case, has released only basic information.
One of Cody Eyre’s sisters, Samantha Eyre Harrison said the family has been denied access to evidence, including law enforcement video of the incident.
“Once we found out that there was video footage, we’ve been really adamant about, please let us watch the video,” she said.
Harrison said her brother left the family home early in the evening to take a walk and clear his head, like he often did, but notes he was stressed after an especially tough day.
“Christmas stress going on in addition to girlfriend problems, and I then think the last part was that his truck wouldn’t start, and so it just kind of created this perfect storm of of events where he was having a really difficult Christmas Eve.”
Harrison said her brother left the house wearing a pistol he more typically carried for safety on remote construction jobs.
She said her mom was worried, followed in a vehicle and called 911.
Four miles, and over an hour later she says troopers and police arrived, blockaded the area and talked to Cody, but he walked away into the woods.
“The situation was stable and then once he walked into the wooded area and she lost of sight of him that’s when whatever occurred in the woods, ultimately he ended up losing his life,” she said. “And I guess the big question that we’re asking is, why was lethal force necessary?”
An Alaska State Trooper dispatch said Eyre brandished a firearm toward the officers.
Harrison said the family questions what happened given her brother’s nonviolent past, and because he was training to become a military police officer.
“It would have been very uncharacteristic for him to have threatened anyone especially a law enforcement officer and so the word brandished in our mind is a red flag,” she said. “We want to know exactly what you mean by brandished.”
Harrison noted that the officers were dressed in tactical gear and carried assault-style rifles.
“I’m sure that he felt scared in those final moments.”
Five officers fired on Eyre, who was pronounced dead shortly after at the hospital.
Harrison said family members were briefly allowed to see him.
“It was really concerning to us that not only had he been shot multiple times from the waist to the ankles, but that he had been shot directly to the back of the head,” she said. “That to us was just a huge use of force. ”
A letter from the Harrisons also raises the issue of potential racial bias, noting that Cody Eyre was part Alaska Native.
In an email , trooper spokeswoman Megan Peters said she does not expect any new information to become available until after the Office of Special Prosecutions receives the case for review and makes a determination.
The Eyre family has created a website and social media pages about the case.
