Source Star Tribune
Minneapolis police officers and community anti-violence leaders remembered slain officer Jamal Mitchell as someone who treated everyone with respect during a vigil Sunday afternoon on the south Minneapolis street where he was fatally shot Thursday.
"He embodied a sense of community," Assistant Chief Katie Blackwell said of Mitchell. "That's the kind of cop we want in Minneapolis."
She said Mitchell distinguished himself, not only for the way he saved an elderly couple from a burning house in his first days on the job, but also for the way he interacted with people every day.
About 100 people stood on the corner of Blaisdell Avenue and 22nd Street on Sunday afternoon to mourn Mitchell. Many of the mourners were police officers and Hennepin County sheriff's deputies, and other Minneapolis city workers wearing nametags and lanyards. Others wore the matching T-shirts of community outreach groups, including We Push for Peace and A Mother's Love.
"If you haven't met Jamal, he would be truly humbled by this," said Assistant Chief Christopher Gaiters during the vigil. He remembered Mitchell as someone with an easy smile who treated everyone he met with respect and kindness, and won goodwill from many who live and work in south Minneapolis.
Blackwell remembered that after Mitchell responded to an incident, he would often come back a few days later just to check in.
Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt said she wanted people to understand Mitchell and other officers as part of the city.
"We are not just patrolling the streets, we are part of the community," Witt said. "Take a look around, because this is what community looks like."
The Rev. Ian Bethel of New Beginnings Baptist Ministries and a member of the city's Police Community Relations Council was one of a few pastors who led prayers, his words and an organ's notes ringing across the intersection through large speakers in a truck.
He invited police officers to the front of the vigil, where several put their arms around each other as they prayed.
"We need to change this toxic atmosphere from hate to love," he said.
The vigil was held after a police procession took Mitchell's body to a funeral home in north Minneapolis. Public memorial services for Mitchell have not yet been organized, according to the police department, but plans will be announced soon.
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