The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension has provided more details about the fatal shooting of a Minneapolis police officer, including identifying the two Minneapolis officers who fired their weapons during the shootout in the Whittier neighborhood of south Minneapolis.
Three people were killed and four injured in the incident on Thursday.
The BCA provided the following details in a press release on Sunday evening, following a preliminary investigation:
Minneapolis police received a call about two people shot inside an apartment at 2221 Blaisdell Ave S on Thursday at 5:15 p.m.
Jamal Mitchell, 36, was the first police officer to arrive on the scene. He stopped about a block away from the building. He said on his radio that he saw two men with injuries on the street. The two men were later identified as Mustafa Ahmed Mohamed, 35, of St. Paul, and a bystander.
According to the BCA release, Mitchell got out of his car and approached Mohamed, who was sitting next to a parked vehicle, and asked Mohamed if he was injured. Mohamed pulled out a gun and shot Mitchell at close range, and Mitchell fell to the ground incapacitated.
Other officers arriving on the scene saw Mohamed continue to shoot Mitchell. As they got closer, Mohamed began shooting at them, the release said. Nick Kapinos and Luke Kittock shot and hit Mohamed. Kapinos used his department pistol and Kittock used his department rifle.
The release states that the Minneapolis officers attempted to provide life-saving care. Mohamed died at the scene and Mitchell later died at Hennepin County Medical Center. Kittock and a Minneapolis firefighter were injured, and both were treated and released from the hospital. The bystander who was shot before police arrived is in critical but stable condition in the hospital.
A handgun with an extended magazine and numerous shell casings were recovered from the shooting scene, BCA officials said. Investigators are reviewing all video footage of the shooting, including body camera and police car footage.
In addition, the BCA is investigating a shooting at the apartment complex in which another man, Osman Said Jimale, 32, was shot dead.
Kittock has nine years of law enforcement experience.
Kapinos has 10 years of law enforcement experience. He was one of several Minneapolis police officers who responded to a standoff that resulted in the death of Tekle Sundberg on July 14, 2022. 20-year-old Sundberg was shot and killed by two police snipers who shot through his apartment window . Sundberg had barricaded himself in an apartment after shooting at a neighboring apartment. Kapinos did not fire his weapon during the incident and no charges were filed against the officers involved in Sundberg’s death after an investigation determined the shooting was legal.
The BCA will submit the investigation’s findings to the Hennepin County Prosecutor’s Office, which will review them and consider charges.
