Officer Richard J. Adair

Richard J. Adair

Officer Richard Adair and Officer Jimmy Kennedy were ambushed while responding to a shots fired call.

The officers were dispatched to a weapon call, as the suspect had opened fire without provocation on a neighbor and wounded him as he drove out of his driveway. The wounded driver drove down a hill, passed out and wrecked, prompting neighbors to call police.

As the officers pulled up near the suspect's home, he fired on both with a rifle from a second floor window, striking them both in the head and killing them instantly. A back-up officer, a responding detective, was also shot and wounded. The chief of police then arrived and contained the scene while calling for backup from Alaska State Troopers. Before the troopers arrived, the suspect committed suicide.

Officer Adair had served with the Juneau Police Department for just under 10 years.