A heroic police officer was ambushed and killed by a gunman he tried to help. Another victim is dead and several others were injured – Boston News, Weather, Sports

(CNN) — A Minneapolis police officer who was hailed as a hero last year was killed by a gunman who ambushed him as he arrived at the scene of another shooting, police said.

Officer Jamal Mitchell, 36, was one of two people killed in separate shootings Thursday that left four people injured, authorities said.

The shooter, whom Minnesota authorities identified Sunday as 35-year-old Mustafa Ahmed Mohamed, was also killed.

Police initially responded to a call that two people had been shot in a residence in the Whittier neighborhood of Minneapolis around 5:15 p.m. Thursday. When officers arrived, someone immediately shot at them and officers returned fire, said Deputy Police Chief Katie Blackwell.

Mitchell and the suspect were killed and another officer was injured, Blackwell said. She said authorities later found three other civilians who had been shot, one of whom died at the scene.

The suspect and the other victim killed, identified as Osman Said Jimale, 32, both died from “multiple gunshot wounds,” according to the Hennepin County coroner’s office.

Among the four injured survivors were a police officer and a firefighter from Minneapolis who suffered non-life-threatening injuries, Blackwell said. They have since been treated and released.

The other two suffered life-threatening injuries. One person was shot in their vehicle, another was found in an apartment, Minneapolis police said. They were still in the hospital on Friday afternoon.

“A hero, a son, a father, a fiancé” was killed

Just three days after joining the police force in 2023, Mitchell rushed into a burning, smoke-filled house with another officer to rescue an elderly couple. The young Minneapolis cop told CNN he didn’t hesitate to go in.

“We’re not trained to run into fire, but we are trained to put other people’s lives before our own,” Mitchell told CNN last year. “So when we found out there was potentially someone in the house, we didn’t hesitate to run in.”

In his final moments on Thursday, the young police officer responded to a shooting and attempted to provide first aid to the injured, authorities said.

One of the people he was trying to help turned out to be the gunman who was supposed to kill him, authorities said.

“Mitchell was trying to help the man who shot him,” said Drew Evans, superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

“It happened very quickly… he ambushed him.”

Mitchell “was a hero, a son, a father, a fiancé and an officer dedicated to protecting and serving,” said Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.

“He was running toward danger while the rest of us were running in the other direction,” the mayor added.

Although he was a Minneapolis police officer for less than two years, Mitchell had a major impact on the department.

“I have never met an officer who received an award on the third day of work,” Blackwell said.

And the officer “made the ultimate sacrifice to protect and save the lives of others,” Frey said.

“We will honor his sacrifice. We will remember his name,” said the mayor. “We will never forget what he did for the people of our city.”

Early Friday morning, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said, “There are no words to adequately describe this tragedy. This is the worst call a police chief can receive.”

O’Hara says he knew Mitchell personally. “He died a hero,” the chief said. “He died doing what we asked him to do for all of us.”

The motive remains a mystery

The trigger for the shots, which led to a shooting and the death of two victims, is still unclear.

According to authorities, homicide investigators were trying to determine the motive.

Witness Reuben Molina was watching television with his girlfriend in a third-floor apartment when he heard a “bang.”

“Then we heard it over and over again in rapid succession, and then she and I thought, ‘Oh, that’s gunshots,'” Molina told CNN affiliate WCCO. He said he thought the sounds were coming from the floor below them.

Molina said they left the apartment to see what was going on. He told WCCO he kept hearing gunshots and saw “people shooting,” but could not say if those who opened fire were police officers or civilians.

“When officers arrived, they were immediately fired upon and mutual gunfire broke out,” Blackwell said.

Two police officers – Nick Kapinos and Luke Kittock – who shot the suspect have been placed on critical incident leave, according to a news release from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension on Sunday.

Kapinos has 10 years of police experience, Kittock has nine. Kittock was injured in the shootout but was later treated and released from the hospital, authorities said.

Forensic experts are collecting evidence and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is working with Minneapolis police to determine the circumstances of the fatal shooting. Authorities said Friday they are still in the process of establishing a timeline for the incident.

“There is both body-worn and patrol car camera video of this incident,” the office said in Sunday’s press release. “Agents are reviewing all available video as part of their active investigation.”

CNN has contacted the Minneapolis police for more informations.

“This cannot be the norm”

In the first five months of this year alone, there were at least 180 mass shootings across the United States, according to the Gun Violence Archive. Like CNN, the archive defines a mass shooting as one in which four or more people are shot, not including the shooter.

And in the first four months of this year, at least 136 police officers were shot in the line of duty, including 20 who were killed, according to the National Fraternal Order of Police.

“This cannot be the norm,” Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said Thursday evening.

“There have been four occasions now in the last few months where public safety officers have responded to emergency calls, rushed to the emergency dispatch center and, in this case, were ambushed, resulting in the death of Officer Mitchell.”

And although Minneapolis is “strong” and “resilient,” the mayor said, “We must do everything possible to ensure that these tragic events, this epidemic of gun violence and things like this never happen again.”

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