By RACHEL D'ORO
Associated Press Writer

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - A Minnesota man named in a federal drug conspiracy case was killed and his 2-year-old son critically injured in a shootout with U.S. marshals and police at a small Alaska airport.

Alaska State Troopers were investigating the shootout Wednesday evening in Homer that killed Jason Karlo Jacob Anderson, 31, of Duluth, Minn., who was wanted on a federal arrest warrant for alleged trafficking of methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana. Three others charged in the same case were arrested in January, according to federal officials in Minnesota.

Anderson's two children were in a rented car with him at the time of the shootout in a parking lot at the airport in Homer, about 130 miles southwest of Anchorage on the Kenai Peninsula.

"He was a drug trafficker eluding law enforcement. That he was putting children in harm's way is of great concern for us," said Tom Kelly, a spokesman for the federal Drug Enforcement Agency's Minnesota district.

The injured boy was listed in critical condition at an Anchorage hospital Thursday evening, troopers said. The other child, a 6-month-old infant, was not injured. The children's mother lives in Alaska, said U.S. Marshal Randy Johnson, who heads the Alaska office.

Officials did not identify her, but the Star Tribune of Minneapolis reported in a story for Friday's editions that she is Cherry Dietzmann, and that Anderson had been living under an alias in Alaska with her and their two young children for nearly a year.

Cherry Dietzmann, 20, was quoted as saying doctors gave her son only a small chance of survival. She said the boy had been shot in the back of his head and had undergone reconstructive surgery. She said the 6-month-old was her daughter.

Dietzmann was also quoted as saying she had fled from Anderson repeatedly because of physical abuse, and that she had helped marshals track him down.

"I told them if you do it this way, he's going to freak and people are going to be hurt," she said. "They didn't take me seriously."

Witnesses said Anderson opened fire on the officers and they shot back. Troopers said Anderson had gone to the airport to exchange the rental car and as he waited in the parking lot, three Homer police officers and a marshal approached the vehicle.

Anderson pulled a gun, prompting the shootout, according to troopers, who launched their investigation at the request of marshals and police.

Anderson also was known as Brandon Dietzmann, the last name of two co-defendents in the drug case. Heavily tattooed, Anderson claimed to be a tattoo artist, Kelly said.

According to a federal indictment issued in December, Anderson was charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute meth, cocaine and marijuana, and one count of distribution of more than 500 grams of meth. He was considered armed and dangerous, said Chris Connolly, warrants supervisor with the marshals' Minnesota district.

Also named in the indictment are Bret Allan Dietzmann, 45, of Woodland Hills, Calif., Terry Todd Dietzmann, 45, of Duluth, and Darrel Lamar Fredrickson, 37, of Duluth. Kelly with the DEA office said he didn't know the relationship of the Dietzmanns or why Anderson used the name, but the Star Tribune reported that Anderson's alias, Brandon Dietzmann, is the name of Cherry Dietzmann's brother, that Bret Allan Dietzmann is also her brother, and Terry Dietzmann is her cousin.

The defendants are accused of running drugs in Minnesota, Wisconsin and California, using a Duluth business called Horseshoe Billiards as a distribution site, Kelly said.

Authorities in Minnesota contacted marshals in Alaska last week after learning Anderson may have fled to the state, Connolly said.

Anderson had previously been charged with a federal count of kidnapping stemming from a December 1991 crime, according to Connolly. Anderson, who was 17 years old when the crime was committed, served about six years in federal prison, Kelly said.

The Homer police officers involved Wednesday night's shooting were placed on administrative leave, according to troopers, and the officers' names will be released Monday.

Johnson would not release the name of the deputy marshal involved and declined to elaborate on the shooting, citing the ongoing investigation by troopers.

"We are cooperating with their investigation," he said.

John Thompson, a rental car agent at the Homer airport, said he was standing inside the terminal and could see the suspect's rented Jeep parked about 150 feet away in the rental car lot. He dove to the floor after seeing a puff of smoke streaming out of an officer's gun, but said several people reported seeing Anderson shoot first.

"Unfortunately, from what I heard, that guy opened fire," Thompson said. "It's a no-win situation."