Police officer, 2 civilians and shooter dead, 2nd officer hurt in south Minneapolis shooting

A 28-year-old Minneapolis police officer is dead, as are two civilians and the suspected shooter, after an exchange of gunfire with a suspect Thursday evening in south Minneapolis, according to sources and a statement from police.

A second officer was critically wounded in the chaotic scene around an apartment building in the 2200 block of Blaisdell Avenue S., in Minneapolis’ Whittier neighborhood, sources said.

The statement from Minneapolis police said two officers were taken to the hospital, but did not confirm that one had been killed or the condition of the other.

The area remained cordoned off as the sun set amid an army of police, investigators and first responders from numerous agencies.

“The public is not in danger,” the police statement said. “Please continue to avoid the area.”

Details were still emerging Thursday evening in what would be the first shooting death of a Minneapolis police officer in the line of duty in more than 20 years.

“Praying for all the first responders on the ground working to keep the community safe,” Gov. Tim Walz said in a tweet, adding that the state “stands ready to provide any resources necessary.”

Walz said State Patrol troopers were assisting Minneapolis police, and officials with the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension were also on the scene.

One uniformed officer was face down on the street among squad cars and fire trucks as at least 11 shots rang out, according to a man who witnessed part of the incident and showed his cell phone video to a reporter.

By the the time the gunfire ended, a figure in plainclothes could be seen face down on the street as well.

Upon hearing that officers were down, dozens of uniformed and plainclothes officers rushed to HCMC in downtown Minneapolis, where they wept and comforted each other in an ambulance bay. Among them were Assistant Chief Katie Blackwell and Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt; Chief Brian O’Hara was out of town for a conference but was said to be headed back to Minneapolis.

The hospital entrance on 7th Street was lined with squad cars and covered with yellow crime scene tape. A woman stood at the intersection outside the hospital holding a giant “Blue Lives Matter” flag, wiping tears from her eyes.

Minneapolis police sent out an alert just before 6 p.m. telling residents to avoid the area around 22nd Street and Blaisdell because of an active incident. About 40 people gathered nearby as numerous police cars from several agencies arrived. Police yelled to observers to move back down the block and taped off the area, allowing only buses to go through.

Several people who live in the apartment building where the shooting took place were still waiting at 8 p.m. to get word they could go back inside. One woman told police to check on her children who were still inside her apartment.

Reuben Molina said he was in his apartment when he heard four or five shots from an apartment on the floor below him. He and his girlfriend heard a woman tell a 911 dispatcher that two people had been shot in the head, including her boyfriend.

Molina saw two men walk out the back door of the complex and split up in the alleyway, going in opposite directions. They looked, he said, like they were “trying to be nonchalant.”

Molina went outside to get officers to check on the apartment shooting when he began hearing more shots nearby, he said.

“I could hear the bullets ricocheting and bouncing off stuff as I’m trying to get somebody to come inside to check on the people who were shot,” he said. He saw one wounded person being carried away.

Commuters and nearby residents were blocked in their vehicles as officers with assault weapons told them to get down and keep their doors locked. A lawyer going home from work told the Star Tribune he had “never seen such a strong response from officers.”

“I thought it was fireworks first,” said one man, who left to walk his dog moments before gunfire began at his apartment building. The man, who declined to give his full name, said he had recently moved there and wasn’t sure when he would be able to go home.

The shooting Thursday was the second this year to result in the death of a Twin Cities police officer. In February, two police officers and a medic were shot and killed in Burnsville after an hours-long standoff following a domestic abuse call. A man who had barricaded himself in his home with a woman and seven children shot and killed the officers and medic, and died after turning his weapon on himself.

The last Minneapolis police officer shot and killed in the line of duty was Melissa Schmidt, who was killed in a public housing complex in the Lyndale neighborhood in 2002. Minneapolis Park Police officer Mark Bedard was killed In 2007 while responding to a drive-by shooting. He was chasing a suspect on foot when he was struck by a Minneapolis police squad car. He died a week later.

Check back with startribune.com as more details become available in this developing story.

Staff writers Josie Albertson-Grove, Eder Campuzano, Kim Hyatt, Louis Krauss and Paul Walsh contributed to this story.