Alaska State Troopers arrested a Glennallen man Saturday after a daylong search that began Friday morning when Troopers say he shot at a trooper who was pursuing him on a stretch of the Tok Cutoff and the Richardson Highway.Troopers arrested 59-year-old Mark Emery Heinz around 1:30 p.m. Saturday near milepost 131 of the Richardson Highway, about 10 miles south of the Tok Cutoff intersection. A trooper news release issued Saturday afternoon says Heinz was taken to a clinic for medical care before he was booked into the Mat-Su Pretrial Facility in Palmer.
Heinz had apparently spent the night in the wilderness after he got away from a Trooper from Glennallen who’d tried to pull him over Friday morning. The trooper was responding to a report from a motorist who said Heinz had almost caused a collision on the Tok Cutoff near the Gakona Lodge Road intersection.
The trooper news release says Heinz turned north onto the Richardson Highway during Friday’s chase and, after about 25 miles, fired a shot at the Trooper, who returned fire. Heinz then ditched his vehicle and ran into the woods.
Troopers closed a 30-mile stretch of the Richardson Highway for a couple of hours Friday to search fort Heinz. And they dispatched several backup units, including three Special Emergency Reaction Teams and a helicopter, to aid in the search.
Troopers also got help from the Alaska Bureau of Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the National Parks Service and area Village Public Safety Officers.
