July 14, 2023, 11:44 PM
Fargo's police chief says a gunman opened fire on police and firefighters “for no known reason” as they responded to a traffic crash in North Dakota
A gunman opened fire on police and firefighters “for no known reason” as they responded to a traffic crash in North Dakota, killing one officer and wounding two others before another officer killed him, Fargo’s police chief said Saturday.
A 25-year-old woman was also injured in the shooting Friday afternoon, but authorities did not say who shot her. The gunman did not hit any firefighters, Chief David Zibolski said, but a fire truck was struck by gunfire.
Zibolski identified the shooter as Mohamad Barakat, 37, of Fargo, but provided few details about him or the shooting, citing officials’ desire to protect the investigation. He said he was confident authorities would eventually determine the motive.
“The first thing we always want to know in a situation like this is, ‘Why?’” he said. “Why would somebody do this? What happened?”
Authorities were investigating what Zibolski called a “routine traffic accident" on a busy Fargo street when Barakat opened fire. He did not appear to have been involved in the crash police were working, Zibolski said.
Among the drivers who witnessed what happened was Chenoa Peterson. She told The Associated Press on Saturday that the shooter appeared to have ambushed the officers. 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 (6 meters) away, she said.
“He was holding up the trunk of the car with his arm, and then I see the gun come up, and he set it on his shoulder and just pointed it directly at an officer in front of him,” Peterson said. “It was like 10 shots right away.”
The police weren’t looking in the direction of the gunman when he began shooting, she said.
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