Minneapolis: A Minneapolis police officer responding to a shooting call was ambushed and killed Thursday when he stopped to provide aid to a man who appeared to be a victim. That man instead wound up shooting the officer, authorities said.
The death of officer Jamal Mitchell happened during a chaotic situation involving two crime scenes two blocks apart that left three people dead, two others hospitalized in critical condition and another officer and a firefighter with less serious injuries.
"I've seen the video, and he was ambushed," Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans said at an evening news conference. "I'm using the term for a reason."
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said authorities are still investigating and asked people to "be patient with us as we do not know all the fact yet. We want to make sure that the investigation is completed and that we're doing it the right way."
Law enforcement provided a brief narrative of what transpired, starting when officers responded to a call of a double shooting at an apartment complex in the south Minneapolis neighborhood of Whittier.
As Mitchell was about two blocks from the complex, he noticed individuals who were injured. He got out of his car to provide aid to one man, who wound up shooting the officer.
Another officer arrived and exchanged gunfire with the shooter, who died despite life-saving efforts on the part of officers, Minneapolis Assistant Police Chief Katie Blackwell said.
That officer had non-life-threatening wounds. Evans said another person, believed to be an innocent bystander, was shot and taken to a hospital in critical condition. The firefighter also was shot and injured.
When other officers went to the apartment, they found two people inside who had been shot. One was dead and the other was hospitalized in critical condition, Evans said.
Evans said he believed the shooting was isolated to the two locations and that the people in the apartment "had some level of acquaintance with each other."