Police officer and suspect among three dead in Minneapolis shooting

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minneapolis police officer was killed Thursday while responding to a shooting call and providing medical aid to a man who shot him in what authorities called an ambush, authorities said.

The suspected gunman and another person were also killed in the shooting, and a third person was seriously injured in a south Minneapolis neighborhood, Minneapolis Deputy Police Chief Katie Blackwell said.

A second officer and a firefighter were also injured, authorities said.

The deceased officer was identified as Jamal Mitchell, a father who was engaged. Officers lined up outside Hennepin County Medical Center, where Mitchell was pronounced dead.

Aaron Lavinsky / Star Tribune via AP

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Star Tribune via AP

“The City of Minneapolis has lost a hero in Officer Jamal Mitchell,” said Mayor Jacob Frey. “This officer made the ultimate sacrifice to protect and save the lives of others. His life, his service and his name will forever be remembered in the City of Minneapolis.”

Authorities said Mitchell was honored for his heroic actions on his third day on the job last year. Minneapolis police posted on Facebook last year that Mitchell and another officer rescued an elderly couple from a house fire. The post said officers ran into the house and got the couple out before the house was fully engulfed in flames and destroyed.

“Their quick actions … were truly heroic as they prevented this fire from becoming even more tragic,” Chief Brian O’Hara said in the post.

The shooting came three months after two police officers and a firefighter-paramedic were killed in the Minneapolis suburb of Burnsville while responding to a domestic violence call. In that case, a man began firing from inside a home where seven children were inside. A third officer was injured before the man died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Copyright: NPR