Alaska man, 19, charged with shooting 2 state troopers

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http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/05/04/alaska-man-1-charged-with-shooting-2-state-troopers/

ANCHORAGE, Alaska –  As two state troopers struggled to arrest his father, a 19-year-old man armed himself with an assault rifle and shot them seven times, killing them outside his home in a remote Alaska village, authorities said in charges filed Saturday.

Nathanial Lee Kangas appeared in a Fairbanks court two days after Trooper Gabriel "Gabe" Rich and 45-year-old Sgt. Patrick "Scott" Johnson were shot to death. He was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and a count of third-degree assault. Bail was set at $2 million.

After bail was set, the judge asked Kangas if he had anything to say regarding the bail.

After a long pause, Kangas replied only, "I'm sorry," the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported.

Kangas, wearing an orange jumpsuit, was escorted by officers into the court. Every seat was full, and the walls were lined with law enforcement officers of several agencies as Kangas faced his charges. Officers hugged and consoled each other at the hearing, the newspaper reported.

Kangas' mother, Judy, and younger brother, Albert, each gave brief apologies.

"I want to tell everybody, the families, from the bottom of my heart that I am sorry," Judy Kangas said as she choked back tears.

The slayings of Rich and Johnson on Thursday in the isolated community of Tanana underscored the challenges law enforcement faces in this huge state. Like many troopers assigned to patrol multiple villages, Rich and Johnson were not based in the interior community of 238 people. They worked out of the troopers' four-person rural service unit in Fairbanks 130 miles to the east, and they had to reach Tanana by plane.

Rich and Johnson, who had recently appeared on a national cable TV show about the Alaska State Troopers, had traveled to Tanana to arrest Kangas' 58-year-old father, Arvin, on charges of driving without a license and threatening the village's unarmed public safety officer, Mark Haglin.

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Rich and Johnson were occasionally featured on the National Geographic Channel show "Alaska State Troopers," which features multiple troopers patrolling the state's wild terrain. The troopers were not filming at the time of their deaths. Filming in the fifth season is currently being done with other troopers.

[mountaineer]

Ah yes, the ol' "assault rifle," which to the AP means anything other than a water pistol.

[PzLdr]

Ah yes, the ol' "assault rifle," which to the AP means anything other than a water pistol.

There's one show [on Nat Geo? about folks living up near the Arctic Circle. One couple [the wife is Indigenous] use a Moisin Nagant to hunt. Some assault rifle.

[mystery-ak]

Alaska State Troopers...we watch this show all the time here and have seen these two several times....tooooo bad!!

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Alaska State Troopers...we watch this show all the time here and have seen these two several times....tooooo bad!!

hubby watches that show all the time.