Hour-long police ‘standoff’ at van near Valley health club is for suspect who was not inside the vehicle

JPD officers trying to serve arrest warrant Tuesday night find van the suspect was believed to be in, use PA announcements in attempt to end incident

Juneau Police Department officers surround a van in the Mendenhall Valley that turned out to be empty on Tuesday, April 7, 2026. (Screenshot from video by Marshall Murray)

By Mark Sabbatini

Juneau Independent

This article has been updated with additional information.

A cluster of police cars, officers with weapons and PA announcements targeting a surrounded van near the Mendenhall Mall on Tuesday evening were for a suspect who wasn’t inside the vehicle, according to the Juneau Police Department.

Officers were attempting to serve an arrest warrant on a person for felony domestic violence assault when a white van the person was believed to be in was spotted at about 7 p.m. near The Alaska Club in the Mendenhall Valley, according to JPD Deputy Chief Krag Campbell.

The area next to the club on James Street was closed off during the incident, which Campbell said lasted about an hour.

"The van was located, but the person wasn’t there," he wrote in a text message.

No other people were arrested during the response, Campbell said.

On Friday, Erann Kalwara, public safety manager for JPD, stated through an email that the subject has not been arrested and has an outstanding felony warrant charging three separate domestic violence crimes, one of which is a class A felony. She said the police department was unable to release additional information at this time.

• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306. Jasz Garrett contributed to this report.