MINNEAPOLIS – Flags are flying at half-staff across Minnesota to mark this the death of Minneapolis police officer Jamal Mitchellwho was fatally shot in a mass shooting on Thursday afternoon.
Police said a civilian was also killed and four others were injured, including another officer, a firefighter and two other civilians. The suspect also died.
Minneapolis Police Department
Mitchell, 36, is the first Minneapolis police officer to be killed in the line of duty in two decades. In 2002, officers responded to a call about a woman with a gun at a public housing complex on the 3100 block of Blaisdell Avenue. She eventually killed 35-year-old officer Melissa Schmidt during a shootout in a bathroom. Schmidt returned fire and killed the woman.
Schmidt had spent six years in the military, serving in the U.S. Marines.
Mitchell is the third Minnesota police officer to be killed this year. Burnsville officers Paul Elmstrand and Matthew Ruge, and city firefighter Adam Finseth, were killed during a standoff in February.
WCCO
More and more Minnesota officers have been attacked by gunmen in recent years. State crime data shows that the number of attacks on law enforcement has increased from about 400 to 900 in five years.
In 2019, suspects shot at officers ten times, last year almost 60 times.
According to the Officer Down Memorial Page, 60 police officers have been killed across the country this year.
