Fargo police: Officer shot during standoff has died
Updated: 4:10 p.m. | Posted: 5:50 a.m.
A police officer shot during a standoff with a domestic violence suspect has died, authorities in Fargo, N.D., said Thursday.
Officer Jason Moszer, 33, was responding to a report of domestic violence at a home Wednesday evening when he was struck by the suspect's gunfire, Fargo Deputy Police Chief Joe Anderson said.
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A SWAT team in an armored vehicle retrieved the injured officer and took him to a medical facility, where his family was with him.
"They are in the process of saying goodbye to him," Police Chief David Todd said at a tearful news conference early Thursday.
By late Thursday afternoon, the department confirmed Moszer had died.
Authorities said Moszer was married with two children. He graduated from Fargo South High School in 2001 and from North Dakota State University in 2009.
The suspected shooter was later identified as Marcus C. Schumacher, 49, of Fargo. He was found dead shortly before dawn Thursday in the home where he had barricaded himself for about 11 hours, Todd said.
Schumacher appeared to have died from a gunshot wound but "we don't know if that was from us engaging him or something self-inflicted," the chief added.
Anderson said authorities tried to communicate with Schumacher through negotiators but that he didn't respond and the SWAT team eventually entered the house and found the body.
The incident began in one of Fargo's older residential neighborhoods near downtown around 7 p.m. after Schumacher's son called dispatchers and said the suspect had fired a gun at his mother, the suspect's wife.
The caller and his mother were able to escape the home unharmed, Anderson said.
As law enforcement arrived, a standoff ensued, with Schumacher firing multiple rounds from inside the property, Anderson said.
Schumacher then called dispatchers and told them to evacuate nearby houses because he planned to open fire. Police conducted door-to-door checks on neighbors and don't believe anyone else was injured, Anderson said.
Residents were alerted through phone and text messages shortly before dawn that they need no longer shelter in place.
The North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Cass County Sheriff's Office have sectioned off a large area of north Fargo to conduct their investigation.
Authorities are combing the area, looking for bullet casings and other evidence as they piece together what happened, Cass County Sheriff Paul Laney told reporters Thursday morning.
"There was a lot of rounds fired," Laney said. "We have to go house to house. That's why it's going to take time."
He asked resident to canvas their houses and cars and call police if they find spent ammunition rounds.
The large crime scene "will impact residents and businesses," Fargo Mayor Tim Mahoney said in a statement. He asked residents for their patience and to remember Moszer and his family.
"A chunk of our souls were taken today," Laney told reporters. We lost a brother last night."
MPR News reporter Dan Gunderson contributed to this report.