Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara has made a strong, unambiguous pledge: “We pledge never to forget Jamal, our brother.”
O’Hara shared with Truth Voices the events of May 30 that led to the loss of officer Jamal Mitchell’s life.
According to O’Hara, Mitchell was responding to a report of a shooting and found two men lying in the street, believing them to be the victims of the shooting.
“As he was putting on medical gloves and asking the person if he was OK … he was very suddenly and callously assassinated,” O’Hara described. “He was shot and fell to the ground, incapacitated. The suspect continued to fire upon him.”
O’Hara highlighted Mitchell, who had joined the Minneapolis Police Department in Feb. 2023, as the type of officer the department had been looking for since the death of George Floyd at the hands of Officer Derek Chauvin in 2020 and the resulting unrest.
“Jamal chose Minneapolis. Jamal is from the East Coast like I am. (He) moved to Minnesota four years ago and became a police officer,” O’Hara revealed. “He chose to become a Minneapolis police officer post-2020, despite all the very broad criticism of this agency.”
During his first week on the job, Mitchell bravely ran into a burning house and saved an elderly couple, according to the Chief.
The Minneapolis Police Department on Saturday identified the suspected shooter as 35-year-old Mustafa Mohamed. He was shot and killed by another police officer, who was also injured. A third man lost his life in the shooting, and four others were wounded.
“There’s absolutely nothing Officer Mitchell could have done differently in that situation,” stated O’Hara. “He did absolutely nothing wrong.”
Mitchell, a father of four, will be remembered “not just for how he gave his life but for how he lived his life,” O’Hara expressed.
“He was the type of person who loved being a Minneapolis cop. He loved his co-workers. He loved his family. He loved his friends. He loved his children. He is the very best of what we could possibly ask for in police officers today.”
