MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minneapolis police officer was killed Thursday when he responded to a shooting call and was providing medical attention to a man who shot him in what authorities are calling an ambush, authorities said.
The suspected gunman and another person were also killed in the shooting, which left a third person gravely injured in a south Minneapolis neighborhood, Minneapolis Assistant Police Chief Katie Blackwell said.
A second officer and a firefighter were also injured, authorities said.
The fallen officer was identified as Jamal Mitchell, a father who was engaged to be married. Police officers stood in a line outside Hennepin County Medical Center, where Mitchell was pronounced dead.
“The city of Minneapolis lost a hero in police officer Jamal Mitchell,” Mayor Jacob Frey said. “This officer gave 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 heroic actions last year, on his third day on the job. The Minneapolis Police Department posted on Facebook last year that Mitchell and another officer rescued an elderly couple from a house fire. The post said the officers ran inside and got the couple out before the home was fully engulfed in flames and destroyed.
“Their quick actions … were truly heroic, as they prevented this fire from being even more tragic,” Chief Brian O’Hara said in the post.
The shooting comes three months after two officers and a firefighter-paramedic in the Minneapolis suburb of Burnsville were killed while responding to a domestic violence call. In that case, a man began shooting from a home while seven children were inside. A third officer was wounded before the man died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
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Thiessen reported from Anchorage, Alaska
