A former Juneau police lieutenant fired 75 shots at police officers and their patrol vehicles when they responded to a call at his house Saturday evening, according to the Juneau Police Department.
JPD stated in a release that no one was injured in the incident, which lasted about five hours and ended in Troy Wilson’s arrest.
JPD received a call at about 10 p.m. from a woman in the 9000 block of Black Wolf Way, saying that Wilson was drunk, had a gun and was threatening to hurt himself. Wilson, who resigned from JPD in December, said he would shoot if he saw any police officers near the house, the woman told police.
The woman was able to safely go to a neighbor’s house a few minutes later, the release states.
Wilson began to shoot once the SWAT team and crisis negotiators arrived at his house, the release states.
Neighbors were evacuated from the area, and those who didn’t evacuate were asked to remain in their home.
Negotiators were able to talk to Wilson in the early hours of Sunday morning, and he surrendered at about 2:49 a.m., police said.
He was taken to jail on eight charges, including first-degree attempted murder, second-degree misconduct involving weapons, four counts of third-degree assault involoving a police officer, third-degree domestic violence assault and third-degree criminal mischief, police stated in a release. All counts are felonies.
Police said the only damage was to a JPD police cruiser that was hit six or eight times.
• Contact reporter Emily Russo Miller at 523-2263 or at emily.miller@juneauempire.com.
Comments (29)
Add commentI wonder..
Why the coast guard did not seal the port of juneau off for our own protection?
Gotta love the drunk guys
Gotta love the drunk guys with guns in this town!
Fail.
"He was taken to jail on eigh charges"
Spellcheck?
Praying for all
Praying for all involved, Troy and his family especially.
Wonder why he retired....hmmm
Wonder why he retired....hmmm
Respect
Wilson was a mighty fine officer for many years, and served this community well. Let this be evidence that even the best of us can falter. And yes, many prayers for his family, keep your selfish comments to yourself if only out of respect for his family...they did not hold the gun, and they are the ones suffering through this tragic incident.
Sorry to hear.
I see that the paper did not state that is now a Juvenile Probation Officer for the state. I know that there is lots of stress in both jobs.
Which was it?
6 or 8 holes in the cruiser?
Lucky for him...
...he didn't have a sword!
Troy did a lot of good for
Troy did a lot of good for this community and was well respected. Yes he is having a crisis and needs a lot of help. I am so glad no one got hurt.
People crash and burn every day. It is unfortunate that his was so public. The guy needs help, needs to be accountable for his actions. I truly wish Troy and his family the best of luck in pulling their lives together.
@Skirkz
Ease up... you and I both know that counting past five accurately is tough for reporters from the empire.
75 rounds?!?
Depressed or not, problems or not, drunk or not, this guy is a serious threat to society for whatever reasons and needs to go to prison.
We all have problems, but that doesn't excuse firing 75 rounds at anyone.
And I'm curious why JPD didn't return fire. The story doesn't mention if they did or did not. If they didn't, they should have.
And if they didn't return fire simply because he was a former cop, then that is not cool.
Either way, JPD gets loud applause for having this end peacefully. Good job JPD.
Be careful throwing stones
This family needs your prayers not your stone throwing. You never know what is behind the mask until you have actually reached out to a person to find out why they are hurting. Instead of beating these people up with our public opionion why don't we all ask ourselves how we could have helped. Being a cop, or a firefighter or being in the military is a job that most of us won't even attempt or wouldn't think of doing. Why? Because it is high stress and brutal. Do you have any idea what he has been through or seen or what has caused him so much pain to think he had no hope. Have you asked? Do you care?
We have quickly become a society that likes to feed on the tragedy and failure of our fellow people. I am not saying that I have not been too quick to judge a situation before. What I am saying is that I am learning that there is something behind the mask a person puts on and we need to care enough about others to let them know they are important to us.
To much grass grows under our feet because we let life create distance amongst old friends and family. We don't stop and take the time to share a friendly hello, and "I love you" or an extension of kindness because we simply "don't have time."
What he did may not be right and could have hurt a lot of people but before we execute him in the court of public opinion ask yourself "how much hurt do I have to endure before I break and feel there is no hope?"
Pray for the Wilson family. I have known them for years and am praying that thru this brokenness they truly find healing. I am praising God that no one was hurt and no life was lost!
Troy I am praying for you and that you find peace and hope somewhere in the midst of your pain. If you don't know this you have so many people that love you!!
@Jo
I was not there and I am betting that you were not there either. It does seem clear that there was not a need to shoot back. Out of all that shooting he did he only managed to put six to eight rounds into a patrol car. The situation went on for about five hours and during that time he was contained to the same location and was unable to directly threaten anyone. In the end, he surrendered and was arrested. No return fire required.
...so public? could have hurt a lot of people?
Give me a break! If I shot 75 rounds I know my story would end up in the Juneau Empire. As far as "could have hurt a lot of people", how about "KILL" a lot of people?
Troy Wilson may have been a "fine officer" at one time, but being drunk and shooting a gun does not excuse his drunken behavior. He has some deep problems to work on, but I can say that drinking through them definately does not help. I do sympathize and pray for his family and that Troy get the help he so desperately needs, whatever they may be.
Unbelievable!
Have you no compassion? Have you no heart? These people don't need your snide comments or your disdain. Who are you to judge? Today we are celebrating the rising of the son of God and all that he has done for us and you wish to pass judgement on those that you know nothing about?? Unbelievable!! I don't know Troy or his family, but I pray for them and that they can find comfort and peace in the lord. Even if you are not religious or believe in the lord, how about showing a little compassion, a little humanity? If you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all!!!
@karinda
Amen
It really doesn't matter what
It really doesn't matter what caused him to drink to the excess he did and lose control. What matters is he was in possession of a deadly weapon(s) and this entire situation could have ended far worse. We can't make excuses for him. We all deal with our own "devils" and problems in life. That doesn't mean we can pick up a gun and start shooting at people. This situation was treated differently because he was a retired police officer. Had he been someone else, I doubt the police officers would have held back their gunfire. The only reason no body was injured, was because he was probably to intoxicated to shoot straight. Alcohol and weak and troubled minds don't mix.
I have plenty of compassion,
I have plenty of compassion, just not for those who choose to drink so much that they recklessly endanger themselves or, worse, others. People under extreme stress sometimes do "crazy" things, but they make the choice about how they are going to handle it.
How about....
How about having compassion for his family? Can you try that?
Ruthless
Some of the comments here are ruthless. And "parishilton" you are a fine piece of work.
I'm praying the "former" police officer and his family work through their issues successfully.
Breaking Point
We never know what will cause us to reach our breaking point. I just encourage you to have compassion for his family. No one was phsically hurt but obviously there are times when the emotional hurt is far worse. Please try and be kind and think about how you would feel if it were you and your family in this situation. The material life and the facade of perfection have caused us to not nurture relationships but to nurture our own needs over the needs of others. Please use this event as a time to reflect on how you nurture the relationships you have in your life. And remember that he is someones son, father and husband. He has a family that is in pain right now and probably dealiing with an array of emotion. rather than throw hate and anger their way reflect on how you can make your community a better place where each person feels able to be open to share what is causing them pain. To be able to get help in the open and know they won't be judged for not being perfect. We all have skeletons or things that cause us to be imperfect. We shouldn't fear that if we show them we are a failing person and will be thrown to the sharks.
revdchamblin77; yes, we all
revdchamblin77; yes, we all have skeletons or things that cause us to be imperfect; however, we don't all decide to drink to excess, pick up a weapon and start shooting at the police and the neighbors. We aren't "throwing him to the sharks" because he's "imperfect", we're [filtered word] off because he recklessly shot up his neighborhood without one bit of concern for his family, friends, neighbors or brother police officers. Yes, we all have issues to work through, but we are usually judged by the way we choose to work through those issues, not necessarily the issues themselves.
Dutchlady
I understand being angry about how he chose to handle it. And truthfully your comment wasnt really what I was responding to. I am just asking people to stop and think about what would push them to the point of "handling it" the way he did. Many of us think we know how we would handle severe depression, stress, anger etc. until we actually walk a mile in his shoes we truthfully don't know. He does need to be accountable for his actions, however, I think we need to be careful about just how we hold him accountable. He is a man that needs help and his family needs the communities understanding and prayers is all I am saying. Just please have compassion for his family who is in severe pain now and for a man who felt there was no hope.
And in regards to no having concern for those around him, I completely understand but as I said, did any of us have enough concern for him to be there when he needed us. Just something to think about.
Shootout at the Not OK Corral
The fact that he did not kill anyone is about the only good thing in this story. What comes next is going to be the real crime. Anyone who has paid any attention at all to the results of recent legal matters will not be surprised when a plea bargain is reached. This one is going to be the grand daddy of all deals. My prediction is twenty years, all suspended, plead guilty to a lesser (misdermeanor) charge, a large fine, alcohol rehab, probation, etc, the usual slap on the wrist, a sweet Juneau Plea Deal (JPD for short).
Not All monster
Wow 75-90 shots, depending on who you listen to. I keep coming back to that and finding a glimmer of humanity. Maybe that sounds odd. But I think that even I could have managed to cause harm to someone with that many shots. And yet, amazingly not one person is reported injured. Amazing.
As disturbed and obviously violent as Mr Wilson was at the time, and shooting a weapon like that is a very violent act. Some part of his humanity remained present and had to have had some control. I find it hard to believe you can miss that many times by accident, especially a trained individual with their own weapons.
I also see humanity in the responding officers. They waited, they did not get hot and fire. I can't say I would have had the same composure. They did not fire a shot, things did not escalate into a blood bath. Everyone walked away.
I certainly don't know what kind of help Mr Wilson needs. There is certainly never an excuse or justification for this. I have hope for him, there is a glimmer of the man he once was in there. I pray for him and his family, may they find trh strenth to make it through this difficult time.
I also commend the responding officers. Their willingness to stand down rather than charge in saved lives. I believe that. No one died, no one was injured. That is the best that can happen in a situation like this.