Soldier from Fridley dies after hiking accident in Alaska
Spc. Kyle Lee Gustafson, an 8th Military Police Brigade Soldier attached to the 11th Airborne Division out of Alaska. (Courtesy: U.S. Army)
The U.S. military says a Fridley native has died after a hiking accident earlier this month in Alaska.
The 8th Military Police Brigade says 34-year-old Spc. Kyle Lee Gustafson, an explosive ordnance disposal specialist, was injured in a fall while hiking on Sept. 2 along Turnagain Arm, south of Anchorage.
Gustafson was flown to a hospital but later died.
He joined the Army in December 2020 and was part of the 716th Ordnance Company, 303D Ordnance Battalion-EOD, 8th Military Police Brigade located in Hawaii, and previously trained at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri; Fort Gregg-Adams, Virginia; and Elgin Air Force Base, Florida. The Army says he arrived in Alaska this past May.
Gustafson also previously served in the Marine Corps.
No other information regarding his death was immediately available.