Wed, Feb 14th, 2024 - 10:38am
January 25, 2024 - 8:14pm | By Chris Larson
(Fargo, ND) – The North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation (NDBCI) has completed its investigation into the July 14 officer involved shooting in Fargo. The shooting claimed the life of Fargo Police officer Jake Wallin, and injured Fargo Police officers Andrew Dotas and Tyler Hawes and a civilian, Karlee Koswick.
On July 14, a total of 98 personnel responded to the scene. Those responding included members of the Fargo, Moorhead and West Fargo Police Departments, Fargo Fire Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Cass County Sheriff’s Office, the North Dakota Highway Patrol, the US Attorney’s Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
Several rounds of ammunition were found in Mohamad Barakat’s silver Mercury Grand Marquis, along with a black load bearing vest, bullet fragments and 18 .223 shell casings.
Authorities were responding to a traffic accident near the intersection of 9th Avenue South and 25th Street at just after 2:42 p.m. on July 14. The first fire units arrived six minutes later, followed a minute later by police and ambulance personnel.
Barakat’s vehicle was first spotted on 25th Street and 9th Avenue South at 2:53 p.m., 11 minutes before the shooting began. One minute later, Officer Zachary Robinson shouted “shots fired” multiple times before calling over the radio “Three officers down! Send everybody!”
In an interview with the NDBCI, firefighter Justin Phillippi described what he saw on scene.
“I saw three officers laying. Two were moving, one wasn’t,” he said.
He said the officer who wasn’t moving, Wallin, had a gunshot wound to the head.
“He was unlikely to make a recovery,” Phillippi said.
He said he did not believe Barakat’s vehicle was in the parking lot at the time of the crash.
