Minneapolis mass shooting: 911 calls detail terrifying moments

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - Newly released 911 call transcripts from the Minneapolis mass shooting reveal the panic and chaos that unfolded in broad daylight on May 30.

The City of Minneapolis released nearly 100 pages of transcripts from the terrifying sequence of events that left four dead, including the gunman as well as police officer Jamal Mitchell.

Included in the 95 pages from witnesses and others caught up in the gunfire are first-hand accounts of the mayhem. The identifications of individual callers are redacted, including a woman who had just seen her boyfriend shot to death, a good Samaritan motorist telling dispatchers he purposely hit the suspected gunman with his vehicle to protect others, as well as a victim shot in the hail of gunfire with their two-year-old son close by.

"I got shot. I need help. I need an ambulance," they are quoted as saying while gunfire is heard around them.

The transcripts capture the panic and chaos of the deadly mass shooting scene specifically inside and around the apartment building at 2221 Blaisdell Avenue in south Minneapolis including from within the since-boarded-up unit #18 where two men were fatally shot.

A female caller is quoted telling emergency dispatchers, "My boyfriend has been killed inside this house. I need you to hurry up… and save him."

Operator: "And why do you think your boyfriend was killed in there?"
Caller: "He just, somebody just shot him while I was in the bathroom…"            
Operator: "Shot him?"
Caller: "Yeah, shot him. I believe that they shot him in the head. I’m hiding 'cause I don’t want them to come and kill me."

Meantime, outside the apartment, Officer Mitchell was racing to the scene. The transcripts shed new light on what occurred in the middle of a busy Blaisdell Avenue on that frantic Thursday evening.

There, suspected gunman Mustafa Mohamed was apparently attempting to assault, rob, and perhaps steal a man’s scooter. A Subaru driver saw the encounter and told 911 dispatchers, that he purposely struck the armed suspect before driving away from the dangerous scene.

Caller: "I just hit a guy with my car that I saw assaulting and robbing a man, um on Nicollet and um he was, he tried to jump onto this guy's scooter and I hit him with my car."
Operator: "And where is, is the victim on the ground or?"
Caller: "Urn he, I hit him in the middle of the street. I broke his leg and um he, he's, he, last I saw he was on the street."
Operator: "And you said the person that you hit started shooting, or you believe someone else?
Caller: "I believe he started shooting. I, I, I saw him reach into his pocket and then I heard pop and I urn, I, I drove away."

It is believed Mohamed would subsequently ambush Mitchell when the officer approached to see if Mohamed needed assistance. A caller would provide a grim update on the shootout that ensued, "I can see the officer, Fire Department is here but the officer is down, like down, but the guy is actively shooting. He's even just shot at the Fire Department."

Also, on Monday, the city released a letter from police chief Brian O’Hara explaining why no body camera footage of the incident had been released publicly, despite state law requiring it within 14 days.

Chief O’Hara writes: "The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) is investigating this incident and has requested that MPD temporarily withhold the body-worn camera video because publicly releasing it may interfere with its investigation. Therefore, in reliance on the BCA’s request, I have made the determination that body-worn camera video from this incident will not be publicly released at this time because doing so will interfere with the ongoing investigation. I pledge the MPD’s full cooperation with the BCA’s investigation, and I don’t anticipate a significant delay in the public release of the body-worn camera video."