In Fargo, North Dakota, on Friday afternoon, a suspect opened fire on a busy roadway, killing one police officer and gravely wounding two more, according to police.
The shooting took place just before three in the afternoon, and the officers retaliated by killing the suspect. In a late-night announcement that gave no information on a potential motivation, police claimed that a civilian had also been gravely injured.
As the investigation is continuing, the Fargo Police Department withheld the names of the officers and the suspect pending notification of their families.
Attorney General Drew Wrigley of North Dakota said there had been a “shooting incident” and that the state’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation was collaborating with local, state, and federal law enforcement. He did not release any other information.
More information will be released by Fargo police at a press conference set for Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at Fargo City Hall, according to Gregg Schildberger, the city’s chief communications officer.
“We sincerely are asking for your patience and our community’s patience and understanding as the Fargo Police Department works through this incident,” Schildberger said Friday evening.
“This is very difficult on all of us,” Schildberger said. “We appreciate all the messages from the community that have been given to us in support of our officers.”
In an email, Paul Heinert, a spokesman at Sanford Medical Centre Fargo, stated that the hospital had received patients as a result of the incident and that the Fargo police would provide updates on their conditions.
According to numerous witnesses, a man started shooting at the policemen before being shot by other officers. Soon after, police converged on a neighbourhood about 2 miles (3.2 km) away, evacuated the residents, and began gathering what they claimed to be evidence connected to the shooting.
Gunshots were reportedly heard and seen by witnesses in the vicinity. KFGO Radio was told by Shannon Nichole that she was driving at the time.
“I saw the traffic stop and as soon as I drove, shots were fired and I saw the cops go down,” Nichole said. “My airbag went off and the bullet went through my driver’s door.”
Nichole reported that a man grabbed her and instructed them to leave the location.
As she and her daughter, 22, were travelling, a man pulled out a gun and started shooting at police, Chenoa Peterson told The Associated Press. “He proceeds to aim it and you just hear the rounds go off, and I’m like, ‘Oh, my God! “He’s shooting!”
Peterson initially wanted to stop and try to assist, but having her kid there persuaded her to go. It’s strange to think that you might have been in that if you had gotten there ten seconds earlier, she continued.
The fast sounds of gunfire were captured on surveillance footage that Fargo homeowner Allison Carlson made available.
When Bo Thi heard what she thought might have been fireworks or a motorcycle backfiring, she was working alone in a nail salon close to the shooting location. She claimed that she had no thoughts of gunshots at the moment.
On Facebook, law enforcement organisations from the area expressed their sympathies for the Fargo police.
“Thinking of our brothers and sisters in Fargo,” a post from the South Dakota Fraternal Order of Police said.
Please keep the blue lights on to show your support for local law officers as well as anyone impacted by today’s events, requested the Glenwood Fire Department in Minnesota.
