He was “the epitome of courage”

Some participants at the June 11 memorial service for Minneapolis police officer Jamal Mitchell found it difficult to express their shared feelings of grief.

“Words cannot express the emotion I felt when I learned that a Minneapolis police officer had been killed,” said Luke Weatherspoon, a Minneapolis police officer and Mitchell’s friend.

But at the service, held at Maple Grove High School and attended by thousands, no one had a hard time calling Mitchell an exemplary police officer.

“Jamal was the epitome of courage and compassion in his profession,” said Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara. “Jamal Mitchell represented everything that was good about the men and women of the Minneapolis Police Department and police officers across the state and country.”

A 36-year-old Maple Grove resident was fatally shot on May 30 in Minneapolis. Investigators described his shooting as an “ambush” that occurred while he was providing medical treatment after a double shooting.

According to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, 35-year-old Minneapolis resident Mustafa Mohamed shot and killed Mitchell.

Two other Minneapolis officers arrived on the scene and fatally shot Mohamed.

Friend and Father

Mitchell, whose coffin was placed in a box cart and escorted by a motorcade of police officers, left behind a fiancée and four children.

Weatherspoon described him as a loving father.

“Jamal lived for his family,” Weatherspoon said. “Jamal loved them unconditionally. (He) never missed an event for his children, including plays, dance recitals and birthdays. He achieved all this in addition to a lot of overtime.”

Others called Mitchell a caring and magnetic friend.

“How do you describe a man like Jamal without sounding disingenuous?” said friend and Maple Grove neighbor Chris Dunker. “It means he was always happy, with that Colgate smile.”

More than anything, Mitchell was described as a hero.

Weatherspoon called him “the hero the city of Minneapolis needed.”

Meanwhile, O’Hara said that “Jamal was brave to the core, he was empathetic… as a man, he was heroic until the very end.”

Among the officers attending the service was Crystal Police Sergeant Jake Albers.

He said it was important to him to show support for Mitchell’s family.

“It’s hard to see you, you know, such fallen brothers,” Albers said. “It’s hard to see family. It shows how important life is.”

Many other Crystal officers answered 911 calls in Minneapolis during the service so officers could pay their respects to their fallen colleague.

Maple Grove