At 2:46 PM on February 7, 2022, a handgun was reported as stolen to APD; the theft had occurred nine days prior.  The gun was inside the glove box of a locked vehicle which was parked in front of a business located on the 2400-block of Spenard Road.  One of the vehicle’s windows had been broken out and the gun was taken.

At 8:28 PM on December 11, 2022, a 2001 black Chevy pickup was reported as stolen to APD.  The locked vehicle was parked outside a hotel on the 1000-block of W 12th Avenue at the time of the theft.

At 7:58 AM on December 18, 2022, a day shift patrol officer saw an adult male slumped over in the driver’s seat of a running vehicle pulled over on the side of Medfra Street near the intersection with E 7th Avenue.  A computer check of the license plate revealed the vehicle had been reported as stolen seven days prior.  Three patrol vehicles blocked in the stolen Chevy.  During that action the driver woke up, put the vehicle in gear, quickly accelerated in reverse, and struck a parked and unoccupied gray 2001 Chevy Silverado pickup.  The force of that collision pushed the gray Chevy into the unoccupied SUV parked behind it which was a red 1998 Ford Expedition.

The suspect, 26-year-old Tyler J. Abbott, was unable to drive out of the block.  After additional officers arrived on scene, and multiple commands were given, Abbott finally climbed out of the stolen black Chevy and was taken into custody.  Abbott was transported to the Anchorage Police Department for questioning by detectives.

During the course of the investigation, the gun reported as stolen back in February was found under the driver’s seat of the stolen black Chevy Abbott had been in.  Furthermore, it was determined the gray Chevy that Abbott had backed into when he was attempting to elude police had been stolen sometime since the previous evening.  Officers contacted the owner of the gray Chevy to advise her of the crash it had just been involved in.  During that conversation, officers learned the Chevy had been left parked overnight in a business parking lot on the 5200-block of the Old Seward Highway.  The vehicle owner did not know the pickup had been stolen from that parking lot until police called her regarding the collision on Medfra Street.

While processing the stolen gray Chevy, officers saw that the driver side front door lock had been punched and the ignition had been damaged.   The ignition of the stolen black Chevy had also been tampered with.

At the conclusion of the interview with detectives, Abbott was remanded at the Anchorage Jail on the charges of Vehicle Theft I, three counts of Violation Conditions of Release, Fail to Stop, Theft II, Criminal Mischief III, and Resisting.

APD Cases 22-4276, 22-39922, 22-40673, and 22-40675