06/02/2025
Continued from this month's edition:
The Leafa family's full statement on the officer involved shooting of their 16 year old daughter - statement given on May 25, 2025 at 8:30 AM 🙏
We as a family have settled with the Municipality of Anchorage (MOA) all claims that relate to that August 13, 2024, we, the Leafa family, lost our young 16-year-old Easter Sally Leafa to a fatal and tragic police shooting.
We are grateful to have been able to work this out with the MOA quietly, and with grace.
This event started Sally was born and raised in America Samoa and new to Alaska at the time of the shooting. We are confident the when a family member called for help, never anticipating the circumstances would lead to Easter Sally's death. Easter police did not know her age, that she was upset at the time, or that she was not strong with the english language.
Within mere days of this tragic event, we met with Mayor LaFrance and Chief Case, who, with courage, faced our family with kindness and compassion. They took the time to hear our concerns about what happened and listened to our plea for change to make our community safer.
Where we are from, the police would have taken a very different, slower and deescalating approach.
They would have asked questions, they would have created barriers for safety and taken the time to learn about the circumstances, such as Easter's name, age and generally treated us as the family very differently.
Mayor LaFrance and Chief Case heard us and committed to trying to make our community safer by looking deeply at not only this tragic event, but also by examining in general police policies on training and implementation of best practices in the community.
Some criticized them for making the commitment to make our city safer, we do not. We thank them.
During these many months that have passed since the loss of Easter Sally, we have been involved in providing information when asked about what happened with the steadfast eye towards making our community safer to hopefully prevent future police contacts from escalating into fatal shootings.
We are a private family, and we live by very clear principles: "God is so good and always has been good." We know that resolving this matter with the Municipality and putting the events behind us will never bring Easter Sally back. However, we are hopeful that, despite this terrible event, by shining a light on what happened, and by our voices being heard, we can serve in some small measure as an agent to help bring about real and meaningful changes to prevent tragedy from happening to someone else.
If the talk of change becomes a reality, then something good and meaningful will have come out of her sad and premature death.
As a family, growing up, we were always taught through Matthew 6:14 of the importance of forgiveness. Even now, when tested , we are reminded of the goodness of God, and he helps us now move forward with forgiveness in our hearts.
As a year approaches since her passing, we have come a long way, privately, in healing behind closed doors. We know that grief, like the tide, ebbs and flows, and her loss will always be a part of our daily lives, but we leave everything in the palms of God.
There are three main things to know about young Easter Sally: she was always a smiley human being, she was forgiving, and she was a loving soul. That is what she would want from us now.
Nothing, no words or promises, will ever bring her back. However, the gospel teaches: "Do not repay evil for evil, instead pay them with a blessing", 1 Peter 3:9. God has given us peace, and it is not our battle to judge who was wrong or who was right, but, instead, in our journey moving forward as a family, we are going to honor her name and live on with only the beautiful memories she left behind with us.
We know acceptance is the first step toward cultivating forgiveness and understanding , but it is also the first step toward effecting needed change and we are praying that during this time, the changes that were promised will happen and that they will help make and keep our community safer. We hope that the system acknowledges our deepest message as we move forward. With God, The Leafa Family
Family of Easter Leafa.
You can follow the link beliw if you are interested in seeing the four videos of the 911 call that took place that night.
https://www.anchoragepolice.com/video-releases
[This message was not edited for Grammer, etc.]
Critical Incident Summary Video - Officer Involved Shooting (OIS) - February 21, 2025 PLAY VIDEOThis video is intended to provide a better understanding of the process that takes place in the event of an officer-involved shooting. Please remember the significant impact these events have on those inv...
