Authorities identify the man who killed Minneapolis police officer

The person who shot and killed a Minneapolis police officer was identified Saturday as a 35-year-old Minnesota man.

According to a news release from the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s office, Mustafa Ahmed Mohamed was the man who shot and killed Minneapolis police officer Jamal Mitchell and was himself killed after a bloody gun battle Thursday, in an incident that ended with three dead and four others wounded.

The release identifies Mohamed only as living in Minnesota, but according to court records he had a St. Cloud address as of 2023. He died of multiple gunshot wounds in the 2100 block Blaisdell Avenue.

The chaos began late Thursday afternoon, when residents heard four to five gunshots ring at a Blaisdell Avenue apartment. One man overheard a woman say that her boyfriend and another person were shot in the head.

Mitchell responded to the call around 5:15 and went to help two people whom he thought were wounded. State Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigators believe one of them was Mohamed, who they say ambushed Mitchell and shot him after he fell to the ground.

Minneapolis authorities confirmed that Mohamed died in a shootout with officers. Though the report says the manner of death was homicide, it notes that “Manner of death classification is a statutory function of the medical examiner [and] ... not a legal determination of culpability or intent.”

Court records available Saturday show that Mohamed had two active warrants for his arrest at the time of Thursday’s shootout, both in connection with felony convictions — one for first-degree burglary in 2008 and the other for third-degree burglary in 2006. Mohamed had served prison time for both offenses, but the court records did not say why the warrants were issued.

Authorities have not yet said who shot the people inside the apartment building or a bystander in a vehicle.

Staff writers Louis Krauss and Paul Walsh contributed to this story.