Police To Escort Body Of Slain Minneapolis Officer Home To New Haven

NEW HAVEN, CT — On May 30, Minneapolis Police Officer Jamal Mitchell was responding to a shots-fired call in the Whittier neighborhood of that city when he was "ambushed and shot." police said. Mitchell was trying to help a man in the street, later identified as Mustafa Mohamed, when the man shot him "without warning," according to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

Unfortunately, Mitchell succumbed to his injuries.

The funeral for the fallen Minneapolis police officer is being held Tuesday in Minneapolis and after, a planned law enforcement procession will take his body to Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport for his return to his native Connecticut.

Mitchell’s body will be arriving at Bradley International Airport Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. Members of the Connecticut State Police and New Haven Police Department Motor Unit and Honor Guard will meet Mitchell’s family and a contingent of officers from Minneapolis at the airport. They will then provide an escort to the McClam Funeral Home on Dixwell Avenue, according to police spokesperson Christian Bruckhart.

Funeral services, which are open to the public, will be held on June 17 at the Hillhouse High School Floyd Little Athletic center. Viewing hours will be from 9 to 11 a.m. with the service beginning at 11 a.m. He will then be laid to rest at the Evergreen Cemetery.

According to reports, Mitchell and three other people were "killed in back-to-back shootings" in a two-block stretch of the neighborhood May 30.

A 35-year-old man, Mustafa Ahmed Mohamed, shot Mitchell at close range after the officer asked him whether he needed help, the Star Tribune reported.