Three people were killed – including a Minneapolis police officer and a suspect – and three others were injured in shootings Thursday evening in Minneapolis, Assistant Police Chief Katie Blackwell said.
Among the three surviving injured, one is a Minneapolis police officer and one is a firefighter, both of whom suffered injuries that are not considered life-threatening, Blackwell said. The other person was “gravely injured,” she said.
Minneapolis Officer Jamal Mitchell was trying to help an injured man when the man shot him, Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans said.
The Minneapolis Police Department said the public was not in danger but encouraged people to stay away from the scene at a Minneapolis apartment complex in the south Minneapolis neighborhood of Whittier.
Earlier, authorities said six people, including two police officers, were injured in the shooting.
Officers responded to “an active incident” in the city’s Whittier neighborhood, where multiple people had been injured, the Minneapolis Police Department said. The incident was a shooting, according to the ATF and a witness who spoke to CNN affiliate WCCO.
“This continues to be a fluid situation,” the department said in a Facebook post.
State police are assisting at the scene, Lt. Jill Frankfurth with Minnesota State Patrol told CNN.
“The State of Minnesota stands ready to provide any resources necessary. Praying for all the first responders on the ground working to keep the community safe,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said in a statement on X.
Melvin Carter, the mayor of neighboring St. Paul, said the city was sending police and other first responders to Minneapolis to provide support, including having officers help with security at the NBA playoff game between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Dallas Mavericks.
A witness, Reuben Molina, told WCCO he was watching television with his girlfriend in a third-floor apartment when he heard a “bang” followed by more bangs. “Then we heard it again and again and again in rapid succession, and then me and her were like, ‘Oh, that’s gunshots,’” Molina said, adding he believed the sounds came from inside the apartment building on the floor below them.
Molina said they left the unit to see what was going on and Molina saw two people exit from the back of the building, one who went north while the other went south.
At that point, Molina said, the couple went down to the second floor and that’s when they overheard a woman on the phone say two people had been shot.
When Molina left the building, he said he continued to hear gunshots and saw “people shooting.”
When asked if he saw officers in firing their weapons, Molina said, “multiple individuals. I couldn’t say officers or otherwise.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.
Associated Press contributed to this report.