Members of law enforcement gather outside Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis Thursday following a fatal shooting.
Aaron Lavinsky/Star Tribune via AP
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Aaron Lavinsky/Star Tribune via AP
MINNEAPOLIS — A Minneapolis police officer was killed Thursday while responding to a shooting call and providing medical treatment to a man who shot him in what authorities are calling an ambush, authorities said.
The suspected shooter and another person were also killed in the shooting, which left a third person seriously injured in a south Minneapolis neighborhood, Minneapolis Deputy Police Chief Katie Blackwell said.
A second officer and a firefighter were also injured, authorities said.
The deceased officer was identified as Jamal Mitchell, a father who was engaged. Police officers lined up outside the Hennepin County Medical Center, where Mitchell was clearly dead.
![Members of law enforcement gather outside Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis on Thursday.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/7339x5504+409+0/resize/800/quality/100/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F48%2F5b%2F49d4e6104c92a44a795822b2b828%2Fap24152083731752.jpg)
Members of law enforcement gather outside Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis on Thursday.
Aaron Lavinsky/Star Tribune via AP
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Aaron Lavinsky/Star Tribune via AP
“The city of Minneapolis has lost a hero in Police Officer Jamal Mitchell,” said Mayor Jacob Frey. “This officer made the ultimate sacrifice to protect and save the lives of others. His life, his service and his name will forever be remembered in the city of Minneapolis.
Authorities said Mitchell was honored for his heroic actions last year, on his third day on the job. The Minneapolis Police Department posted on Facebook last year that Mitchell and another officer saved an elderly couple from a house fire. The post says officers ran inside and got the couple out before the home was completely engulfed in flames and destroyed.
“Their quick actions… were truly heroic in preventing this fire from becoming even more tragic,” Chief Brian O’Hara said in his message.
The shooting comes three months after two police officers and a firefighter paramedic in the Minneapolis suburb of Burnsville were killed while responding to a domestic violence call. In that case, a man began shooting from a home while seven children were inside. A third officer was injured before the man died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.