Updated 5:42 p.m. 8/21/2013
The Anchorage Police Department has released a description of the suspect: A white male, apparently in his 20s and approximately 5 feet 10 inches tall and 220 pounds.
The suspect is described as clean shaven, wearing a red hoodie, white shorts and a white baseball cap.
Anyone with relevant information is asked to call police at 786-8900 or to report a tip anonymously call CrimeStoppers at 561-STOP.
Shortly before 5 p.m., all lanes of traffic on Dowling re-opened.
Updated 4:40 p.m. 8/21/2013
Taku Elementary School officials are releasing students to their parents, while Anchorage police officers continue to search nearby for a suspect who opened fire on an officer Wednesday afternoon.
ASD spokeswoman Heidi Embley said there were no more than five students remaining on campus as of 4:36 p.m.
APD officials have called back their SWAT and K-9 units while Alaska State Troopers officials have called back the Helo-2 helicopter.
The suspect remains at large as APD officers continue to canvass the area.
Updated 3:10 p.m. 8/21/2013
APD officers were shot at an estimated three or times. They did not return fire.
Anchorage Police officers are now canvassing the area with K-9 teams and checking door to door for the suspect, along the way clearing residents to a safe distance.
Around 2:45 p.m. APD officers began clearing a Dowling Road three-story home with more than a dozen cars surrounding the area and an Alaska State Troopers helicopter buzzing overhead.
Officers have blocked traffic for a stretch of Dowling between Old Seward and C Street.
Taku Elementary remains on stay put-mode, according to ASD spokeswoman Heidi Embley.
Original story:
Anchorage police are chasing a suspect in a shooting investigation that started in the South Anchorage area Wednesday afternoon, which put five schools in stay-put mode on the first day of classes. One school is still using heightened security.
According to the Anchorage Police Department's Twitter, police are searching for a "white male who fired several shots at an officer in a parking lot near the 200 block of (East Dowling Road)."
In a statement from APD spokeswoman Jennifer Castro, police received an initial call from the officer who had been fired on shortly after he saw the man, just before 12:40 p.m.
"The officer got out of his patrol car and approached the male," Castro wrote. "As the male started walking away from the officer, he turned and fired multiple shots at the officer and fled on foot. The officer was not hit."
The Anchorage School District's Twitter feed says the Polaris, SAVE, Taku, Rilke Schule and Northern Lights ABC schools had said stay-put mode during the chase, taking place along Dowling. A few minutes later, ASD said Taku Elementary was the only school still in stay-put mode.
Castro says several areas along Dowling, including the stretch from A Street to the Old Seward Highway, have been closed by police during the pursuit, with people asked to avoid the Dowling Road area. SWAT team members and K-9 units, as well as Alaska State Troopers' Helo-2, are assisting with the search.
Channel 2's Clinton Bennett, Austin Baird, Joshua Staab, Garrett Turner and Rick Schleyer contributed information to this story.
This is a developing story. Please check KTUU.com and the Channel 2 newscasts for updates.
Contact Chris Klint