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VPO shot, suspect dead by own hand in Chevak

VPO Derrick McDonald medevaced with non-life threatening injuries. Harold Paniyak, 24, died instantly Wednesday evening.

KYUK, Bethel:  One person is dead and another wounded after an armed conflict yesterday in the village of Chevak.

In a release, state troopers said 24-year-old Harold Paniyak shot a Village Police Officer and then turned the gun on himself and died by suicide.

According to another VPO, the suspect shot 40-year-old Officer Derrick McDonald three times before taking his own life. The suspect died instantly, and the wounded officer was medevac’d to a hospital in Anchorage for treatment of life threatening injuries.

Tribal officials from Chevak suspect alcohol to be the primary factor in the incident.

Paniyak was a cross-country runner who placed in the state competition in high school.

His next of kin have been notified of his death.