A North Dakota police officer who was shot during a standoff with a domestic violence suspect sustained a 'non-survivable' wound, Fargo's police chief said early Thursday.
The suspected gunman was found shot to death early Thursday in the home where he barricaded himself for about 11 hours, officials said. The standoff ended shortly before dawn, according to Police Chief David Todd. Todd had said earlier that the suspect might also have been shot in an exchange of gunfire with a SWAT officer.
The officer who was shot, identified as Jason Moszer, 33, responded to the scene of the standoff and parked near a home where the unidentified suspect had barricaded himself. The suspect fired several times, striking Moszer.
"Tonight the Fargo Police Department is mouing the loss of our brother officer," Todd said.
SWAT teams transported Moszer to a nearby hospital, where his family was with him.
"They are in the process of saying goodbye to him," a tearful Todd said at a news conference early Thursday.
Fargo Deputy Police Chief Joe Anderson told the Associated Press the incident began around 7 p.m. when a caller told dispatchers his father had possibly fired a gun at his mother.
Anderson says the caller and the suspect's wife were able to leave the home unharmed. The suspect then called dispatchers and told them to evacuate nearby houses because he plaed to open fire, then shot multiple rounds out of the house.
The Forum newspaper reported that nearby residents were asked to stay on the lower level of their homes or go into their basements. Police did door-to-door checks on nearby houses and don't believe anyone else is injured, Anderson said.
Area residents were alerted through phone and text messages shortly before dawn that they need no longer shelter in place.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.