A visit to the Jamal Mitchell (MPD) memorial

This afternoon, I visited the makeshift memorial to slain Minneapolis policeman Jamal Mitchell, to pay my respects. It sits in front of the Fifth Precinct police station at the corner of 31st Street and Nicollet Avenue in south Minneapolis.

Officer Mitchell, father of three, was ambushed responding to an emergency call on Thursday. His killer was identified by the county coroner this afternoon as Mustafa Ahmed Mohamed, age 35. Mohamed died of multiple gunshot wounds reportedly at the hands of officers responding to the scene. Four others were injured in that gun battle with Mohamed, including two first responders.

Liz Collin of AlphaNews and @crimewatchmpls had earlier reported on Mohamed’s involvement.

Here is an excerpt from page 2 of Mohamed’s 2013 Federal indictment on gun charges.

Clay County, MO, is located in the Kansas City area.

In the 2007 felony case, Mohamed’s prison sentence was stayed.

He pled guilty in May 2014 to the federal gun charges. In March 2015, he was sentenced to more than 8 years in prison. Mohamed appealed his sentence, twice. Both appeals were denied. Strictly speaking, Mustafa Mohamed was not allowed to have a gun.

A 2021 traffic ticket issued in Edina gives Mohamed’s address as Minneapolis.

Media reports indicate that, last Thursday, Mohamed was the subject of an active warrant, which is also shown in state court records. WCCO reports,

He had an active warrant out for his arrest stemming from a 2022 incident in which, court documents say, police saw him at the scene of a downtown Minneapolis robbery carrying a gun.

Another apparent intentional victim of Mohamed last Thursday was identified yesterday by the coroner as Osman Said Jimale, age 32 of Minneapolis, shot in an apartment adjacent to where Officer Mitchell was ambushed.

My colleague David Zimmer has much more to say about the remarkable life of Jamal Mitchell in his piece available here.