Things to know about the fatal shooting of a Minneapolis officer

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This article was published 03/06/2024 (836 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minneapolis police officer shot and killed last week was an outgoing person who loved his job, his family said.

Officer Jamal Mitchell, 36, died in the shooting on Thursday. Police said the man who shot him was 35-year-old Mustafa Mohamed. Responding officers killed Mohamed, and a state agency identified the officers on Sunday.

Another shooting victim, 32-year-old Osman Said Jimale, was later found dead at an apartment. Four others, including one of the responding officers and a firefighter, were injured.

Here are some things to know.

WHO WERE THE OFFICERS INVOLVED IN THE SHOOTING?

The officers who fired on Mohamed were Nick Kapinos, who has 10 years of law enforcement experience, and Luke Kittock, who has nine years, according to the Minnesota Department of Public Safety Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, or BCA. Kapinos fired his service handgun, and Kittock fired his service rifle, it said.

Both officers were put on leave pending the outcome of the investigation, which is standard policy in officer-involved shootings.

WHAT HAPPENED?

Officers responded to a call of a double shooting at an apartment complex. Mitchell was the first to arrive, BCA said. As he neared the complex, he said over the police radio that he saw two injured men — Mohamed and a bystander — in the street.

Mitchell got out of his car and approached Mohamed, who was sitting next to a parked vehicle, BCA said. Mitchell asked Mohamed if he was hurt and needed help.

“Without warning, Mohamed pulled out a handgun and shot Mitchell at close range,” BCA said. “Mitchell fell to the ground, incapacitated.”

Additional officers arrived and saw Mohamed continuing to shoot Mitchell, BCA said. As those officers approached, Mohamed starting shooting at them, according to the agency.

Kapinos and Kittock returned fire, striking Mohamed multiple times, BCA said. He died at the scene. Mitchell died at a hospital.

Kittock was injured in the exchange of gunfire and treated at a hospital. A Minneapolis firefighter was also treated for injuries. The bystander who was shot is in critical but stable condition.

Investigators recovered a handgun with an extended magazine and several cartridge casings at the scene, BCA said. Agents are reviewing body-worn and squad car camera video.

When other officers went to the apartment, they found two people inside who had been shot. Jimale was dead and the other person was critically wounded.

WHO WAS KILLED?

Police have provided little information about Mohamed or Jimale.

Mitchell was a father who was engaged to be married. He had been with the department about 18 months.

The police department posted on Facebook last year that Mitchell and another officer had rescued an elderly couple from a house fire on Feb. 7, 2023, Mitchell’s third day on the job. The post said Mitchell and Officer Zachery Randall ran inside and got the couple out before the home was fully engulfed in flames.

“I told him, ‘You’re one of the good guys, Jamal,'” close friend Allison Seed told the Minnesota Star Tribune. “They really needed him.”

Mitchell was outgoing, with a big smile and a penchant for trying to uplift those around him, his family said.

“If he saw somebody on the corner with a pan, he’s going to dig in his pocket and he’s going to give,” Janet Raper-Edwards, Mitchell’s mother, told Minnesota Public Radio. “He just loved people.”

Raper-Edwards said Mitchell had six siblings, including a twin.

UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

Exactly what led up to the shooting and the shooter’s motivations are still unknown. The connection between the two shooting locations remains unclear. Police have said that the people in the apartment “had some level of acquaintance with each other.”

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has said authorities are still investigating and asked people to “be patient with us as we do not know all of the facts yet. We want to make sure that the investigation is completed and we’re doing it the right way.”