Fargo Police Chief Zibolski: “One of the most horrific days in our department’s history.”

One officer shot and killed, two others with serious injuries

FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) — The community is still in shock after three Fargo police officers were shot in the line of duty on Friday afternoon while responding to a traffic crash on 25th Street South near Big Top Bingo.

Officer Jake Wallin was shot and killed by a man who wasn’t even involved in the crash.

The investigation now in the hands of state and federal investigators.

“One of the most horrific days in our department’s history.”

Fargo Police Chief David Zibolski releasing information about the fatal shooting during a press conference on Saturday afternoon, nearly 24 hours after what the department called a “critical incident” on Friday.

“We’ve got shots fired there’s a civilian: black hoodie, blue jeans; officers down,” came across the police scanner.

“A violent gunman attacked our officers, firing multiple rounds, striking three of them. Two of them critical in stable condition and one of them deceased,” said Zibolski.

Amateur video was captured at the scene by bystanders. You can hear gunshots and see an unidentified body on the ground.

“He’s dead, bro,” could be heard by a man on the video.

Police say the suspect, 37-year-old Mohamad Barakat of Fargo, who was not involved in the crash that officers were responding to, started shooting multiple rounds.

He was shot at the scene by Officer Zachary Robinson.

“We still had other officers responding and taking action at risk to themselves as well, neutralizing that threat to prevent harm to others,” said Zibolski.

Barakat was taken to a local hospital and pronounced dead.

Two fellow officers were shot and injured: Andrew Dotas and Tyler Hawes.

They are in the hospital with serious injuries.

“They’re both in good spirits but they still have significant recovery time and so their struggle continues, we hope to have them back as soon as possible,” said the chief.

A 25-year-old female bystander was also shot during the incident and taken to a local hospital with serious injuries, she is in fair condition.

“Hi, I’m Jake Wallin. I’m from St. Michael-Albertville, Minnesota and I’ve been to more countries than I have been states,” Wallin said in a video released by Fargo Police Department.

23-year-old fallen Officer Jake Wallin had just joined the force in April and was still completing field training.

He graduated from St. Michael and the Alexandria Technical and Community College.

Wallin also served in the Minnesota Army National Guard.

“My desire to serve comes directly from the want/have purpose of my job each and every day. I don’t want to be sitting in an office wondering why I’m here everyday. I want to be out I want to be doing something I can tell myself at the end of the day I made a difference somehow,” said Wallin in the video.

Dotas has been with the Fargo P-D for six years.

He is with the North Dakota Air National Guard.

Hawes joined the P-D with Wallin in April and is also completing field training.

He attended the University of Minnesota-Morris and graduated with a degree in Psychology.

Robinson is a seven-year veteran of the force.

He has been placed on paid administrative leave while the North Dakota BCI investigates the use of force, which is standard procedure.

“If everybody had not done their job as they were trained to do we could have two more fatalities,” said Fargo Mayor Tim Mahoney.

“Our community is a community that stands up for each other and works with each other and will continue to do that. And we’ve never wanted to see it in our community, now we’ve seen an active shooter who was fatal to one of our police officers.”

Zibolski says the department had contact with the shooting suspect before but it was nothing significant.

Federal agencies secured and searched his south Fargo apartment but it is unclear what was recovered.

Services for Officer Wallin are still pending.

A GoFundMe has been set up for one for the two officers in the hospital.

A friend of Hannah Dotas, the wife of Officer Andrew Dotas set up the account.

According to the page, the officer “sustained significant injuries and remains critically stable at the hospital.”

So far, nearly $41,000 of a $45,000 goal has been raised.

You can find the fundraiser here.