Authorities continue to search for clues as to why a gunman opened fire on Fargo police and firefighters as they responded to a traffic crash on Friday.
One officer was killed and two others were wounded before a fourth officer killed him. No firefighters were hit, but a fire truck was struck by gunfire.
Officer Jake Wallin, 23, was killed. Fargo Police Chief David Zibolski says his wounds were fatal, and “there was nothing that could be done.” A military veteran, Wallin served in the Minnesota Army National Guard and was deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq from November 2020 to July 2021, according to a spokesperson for the Minnesota National Guard.
Chenoa Peterson was a witness to the event. She told The Associated Press that the suspect appeared to have ambushed the officers. Peterson says the gunman was at the rear of a car in a bank parking lot near the traffic crash when he fired on an officer not more than 20 feet away.
A 25-year-old female bystander also was injured in the shooting. A hospital spokesman said that she was in fair condition.
Zibolski says the first thing everyone wants to know in a situation like this is…why?
Funeral arrangements have not been released. The governor has ordered that flags be flown at half-staff on the day of interment.
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