FARGO, North Dakota -- A police officer shot while responding to a domestic dispute call to a home near downtown Fargo has died, authorities said Thursday afternoon.
Before dawn Thursday, that the gunman was found by officers shot to death in his residence. Chief David Todd said he did not know whether the suspect, identified as 49-year-old Marcus C. Schumacher, was killed “from us engaging him or [from] something self-inflicted.”
The chief earlier said the man believed to have killed Officer Jason Moszer also exchanged gunfire with a SWAT officer after Moszer was wounded.
“People are hunting us,” Cass County Sheriff Paul Laney said during a late-morning news briefing, referring to a number of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty around the country in recent days. “And how do you think that sits with us?”
The incident began about 8:30 p.m. Wednesday in the 300 block of 9th Avenue N. and led to an all-night standoff between the gunman and police. About 6:15 a.m., Todd declared the standoff “resolved,” and officers were leaving the scene shortly before 7 a.m.
Moszer, 33, was among the officers who initially responded to a report of domestic violence at the home, located less than two blocks from Sanford’s extensive medical facilities.
Officer was on perimeter
Laney matter of factly fielded reporters’ questions but fought his emotions near the end.
“We wear this badge with honor and pride, and we’re going to go out every day to protect our communities,” the sheriff said. “We lost a brother last night. We’re going to wake up today and go out and do it again. We’re not going to quit. We’re not going to back off.
“A chunk of our souls was taken today.”
Police were first alerted to trouble when Schumacher’s son called 911 and said his father shot at the caller’s mother, the suspect’s wife. The son and the mother fled unharmed, police added.
Moszer “was out on the perimeter when we first arrived and were awaiting SWAT [personnel],” Todd said in a new briefing shortly after daybreak. “The suspect started firing out of the house, and Officer Moszer was hit.”
Todd said he was confident that Schumacher meant to shoot at officers.
“I doubt it was random,” said a somber chief, a strip of black tape around the badge on his chest, a symbol of a fallen colleague. “There was a squad car that was shot up [earlier] in a different location than where Officer Moszer was hit.”
Moszer was married with two children in the family, the chief said. “This is horrible for them,” Todd said.
Soon after Moszer’s fate was revealed, his wife’s Facebook page was dominated by an image of the National Law Enforcement Memorial in Washington, D.C. Condolences from friends and loved ones were flowing to Rachel Moszer, who married Jason in June 2013.
In a statement, Mayor Tim Mahoney said, “A tragedy affecting our men and women in uniform impacts our entire community. Today reminds us of the risks encountered daily by those proudly serving in uniform.”
‘We are losing a brother’
Anderson said police suspect that Schumacher was armed with “multiple long guns” and was in the house by himself when he died.
Hours later at another morning update for reporters, Todd took a deep breath and steadied himself before news cameras to share the fate of Moszer, a six-year veteran of the force.
“Tonight we are losing a brother,” the chief began, his voice cracking, “one of our fellow officers.”
An armored police vehicle was used to remove the wounded Moszer from the scene, and he was taken to a hospital where his family was “in the process of saying goodbye to him,” Todd said.
For the next several hours, police tried to communicate with Schumacher leading up to his body being discovered in the home.
Schumacher has lived in various North Dakota cities for nearly all of his adult life and possibly longer, according to court records. His criminal history in the state includes convictions about three years ago for disorderly conduct and assault.
Also, he was charged in Grand Forks County with murder and attempted murder in the October 1988 shooting of a 17-year-old boy and the wounding of a 21-year-old man.
He pleaded guilty to lesser felony counts, then withdrew the pleas, court records show. Eventually, according to the Fargo Forum, Schumacher was convicted of negligent homicide in Maynard Clauthier’s death and acquitted of all charges in connection with Bradley Boswell’s wounding.
Schumacher and his wife filed for personal bankruptcy in 2004, listing more than $470,000 in debts and less than $75,000 in assets.
‘We were scared’
Wednesday’s incident unfolded in one of Fargo’s older neighborhoods. Sarah Stensland, 26, lives less than a block from the home. She said she and her girlfriend locked the doors to her house, turned off the lights and hunkered down in the basement for the night.
“We were scared. We could hear gunshots very clearly, even from the basement,” Stensland said.
“I’m glad there were so many people willing to put their lives on the line to protect us,” she said. “It’s just unfortunate that one had to get hurt.”
Moszer graduated from Fargo South High School in 2001 and from North Dakota State University in Fargo in 2009.
In 2012, he and partner Matthew Siders were awarded the department’s Silver Star Medal for saving two children trapped inside a burning apartment bedroom. They then helped put out the blaze. The medal is given to recognize “an act of bravery or heroism.”
Moszer is the second Fargo officer to die in the line of duty. The first was 25-year-old Frederick Alderman, who was accidentally shot in 1882.
Copyright 2016 Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
Tribune News Service
