Minneapolis police search for motive after shootings left 2 dead, including officer giving medical help. Here’s what we know

(CNN) — Minneapolis police are searching for motive as they investigate a pair of shootings Thursday night that left two people dead – including an officer hailed as a hero – and also wounded four others.

Minneapolis Officer Jamal Mitchell, 36, was one of two people killed by a gunman who ambushed the officer as he attempted to provide medical assistance to people who were injured, authorities said. The suspect was also killed.

Another officer was injured, and authorities later found three other civilians who had been shot, one of whom died at the scene.

“There are not words to appropriately describe this tragedy,” Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said Friday morning. “It’s the worst call a police chief can receive.”

A Minneapolis police officer and a firefighter suffered non-life-threatening injuries and have since been treated and released, police said. The other two victims include a person who was shot in his vehicle outside of an apartment and another who was found in an apartment, Minneapolis police said. They were still in the hospital Friday afternoon.

Across the country, the US has suffered at least 180 mass shootings in just the first five months of this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive. Like CNN, the archive defines a mass shooting as one in which four or more people are shot, not including the shooter.

And in the first four months of this year, at least 136 officers have been shot in the line of duty – including 20 who were killed, according to the National Fraternal Order of Police.

“This cannot be the norm,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said Thursday night.

Here’s what we know about the killings and the investigation so far:

How police say the shootings unfolded

Police initially responded to a call about two people shot at an apartment building in Minneapolis’ Whittier neighborhood around 5:15 p.m. Thursday. When officers arrived, someone shot at them immediately, and the officers returned fire, Assistant Police Chief Katie Blackwell said.

As Mitchell neared the scene of the double shooting, he spotted injured individuals nearby who were in need of medical assistance, Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans said at a press conference Thursday night. While aiding the injured male suspect, the suspect pulled out a gun and continued to shoot Mitchell after he fell to the ground, police said in a news release Friday.

The officer was shot about a block and a half to two blocks away from the apartment, authorities said Thursday night. Mitchell was taken to a local hospital where he later died.

Witness Reuben Molina was watching TV with his girlfriend in a third-floor apartment when he heard a “bang.”

“Then we heard it again and again and again in rapid succession, and then me and her were like, ‘Oh, that’s gunshots,’” Molina told CNN affiliate WCCO. He said he thought the sounds came from the floor below them.

Molina said they left the apartment to see what was happening. He told WCCO he kept hearing gunshots and saw “people shooting,” but couldn’t tell whether those opening fire were officers or civilians.

It’s still unclear exactly how many officers exchanged fire with the suspect, as authorities have given differing accounts.

“When officers arrived, they received gunfire immediately and they exchanged gunfire,” Blackwell said. In a news release Friday, the department likewise said: “Responding officers exchanged gunfire with that gunman.”

But Evans said only one officer exchanged gunfire with the suspect.

“A second officer, I should note, arrived shortly after officer Mitchell was injured and shot and exchanged gunfire with the subject at that time,” Evans said Thursday night. “He was injured in that gunfire exchange.”

CNN has reached out to the Minneapolis Police Department and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension for more information.

Officer was ambushed trying to help suspect

In his final moments Thursday, Mitchell was trying to render first aid to those who had been injured, authorities said.

One of the people he was trying to help turned out to be the gunman who would kill him, authorities said.

“Mitchell was attempting to assist the individual that shot him,” Evans said. “It happened very fast … he ambushed him.”

Mitchell, who was engaged to be married, is now being remembered for his courage and love for the job.

Just three days after he was sworn in to the police department in 2023, Mitchell rushed into a burning, smoke-filled house with another officer to rescue an elderly couple. The rookie Minneapolis cop told CNN he didn’t hesitate to go in.

“We’re not trained to run into fires, but we are trained to put others’ lives in front of ours,” Mitchell told CNN last year. “So when we found out possibly that someone was in that house, we didn’t second guess running in.”

Mitchell “was a hero, a son, a father, a fiancé and an officer who is so deeply committed to protecting and serving,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said at a press conference Thursday night.

“He would run towards danger when the rest of us would run in the other direction,” the mayor added.

Even though he was a Minneapolis officer for less than two years, Mitchell made a profound impact on the department. “I’ve never met an officer that received an award on the third day on the job,” Blackwell said.

“We will honor his sacrifice. We will remember his name,” the mayor said. “We will never forget what he did for the people of our city.”

Police now looking for more information

While police said they believe they know who the suspect was, homicide detectives are trying to determine the motive as it remains unclear what prompted the gunfire.

Forensic scientists are collecting evidence, and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is working with Minneapolis police to help determine the circumstances surrounding the shooting deaths. Authorities said Friday they are still working on piecing together a timeline for the incident that unfolded.

Investigators are working to determine the exact circumstances of how Mitchell was killed, O’Hara said Friday.

The Hennepin County Medical Examiner will release the names of the deceased suspect and civilian, and the cause and nature of their deaths.

“More details will emerge in the coming days and weeks,” police said in a news release Friday.

“We have crime scene investigators out at the different locations right now,” Evans said at a press conference Thursday night. “And we have dozens of agents out working to meet with witnesses, canvass the area, gather additional information.”

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CNN’s Emma Tucker, Holly Yan, Jillian Sykes and Sarah Dewberry contributed to this report.