Officials and family Tuesday identified the man who was critically wounded while driving through an intersection near where Minneapolis police officer Jamal Mitchell was killed during a shootout last week.
Police said Alexander G. Hage, 38, is the civilian who was shot while in his vehicle Thursday around 5:15 p.m., when gunfire erupted at an apartment building in the 2200 block of Blaisdell Avenue S. in the Whittier neighborhood. The latest from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) was that Hage was in critical but stable condition.
Mitchell, 36, was among the first officers to arrive and was aiding a wounded 35-year-old Mustafa Ahmed Mohamed, when he "ambushed" the officer, according to the BCA. Two other officers coming under fire from Mohamed shot back in response and killed him, the BCA said.
David Hage, a retired Minneapolis Star Tribune news reporter and editor, shared little about his son's prognosis, other than to say, "He's recovering. He's getting great care" at HCMC.
Alexander Hage, who lives in south Minneapolis, "just happened to be there" when the shooting erupted, David Hage said.
"He was on his way home that evening and just happened to pass through that intersection at exactly the wrong time," David Hage said.
The back-to-back shootings left three people dead: Mitchell and Mohamed outside, and 32-year-old Osman Said Jimale inside the apartment. Another person in the apartment was shot and critically wounded. Officials have yet to release his identity.
Along with Hage, others wounded outside were a yet to be identified Minneapolis firefighter, who received medical treatment without being hospitalized, and Luke Kittock, one of the officers the BCA said killed Mohamed. Kittock has since been released from the hospital.
Emergency dispatch audio from the scene disclosed that Mitchell showed up and radioed in that it "looks like we have two victims outside at that location."
Mitchell got out of his squad and approached Mohamed, who was sitting next to a parked vehicle, according to the BCA. Mitchell asked Mohamed whether he was hurt and needed help, the agency account continued. That's when Mohamed shot Mitchell at close range before exchanging gunfire with officers before he was killed.
