North Dakota officer killed in Fargo ambush is to be laid to rest in Minnesota
FARGO, N.D. (AP) -- The Fargo police officer who was responding to a routine traffic crash when he was ambushed and fatally shot by a heavily armed man will be laid to rest Saturday.
Jake Wallin, 23, was killed July 14 when a man armed with 1,800 rounds of ammunition, multiple guns and explosives began firing. Two other officers and a civilian were wounded before a fourth officer returned fire, killing gunman Mohamad Barakat. Police said the actions of that fourth officer likely spared the city from a bigger, bloodier attack.
Wallin, who had been sworn in as a Fargo police officer in April and was still in field training, was cremated in his uniform. On Saturday, the Fargo Police Department will escort his cremains to Pequot Lakes, Minnesota, where a funeral service will be held.
A military veteran, Wallin served in the Minnesota Army National Guard and was deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq from November 2020 to July 2021, according to a spokesperson for the Minnesota National Guard.
He will receive final military honors at a private interment.
"He served his country, came back here and wanted nothing more but to serve in a position with purpose and meaning -- his exact words -- and he did that," Fargo Police Chief David Zibolski said at a media briefing after the shooting.
Authorities played a video that showed Wallin training with fellow recruits and speaking of his desire to become an officer.
"Throughout my entire life, I've always wanted to work in some sort of position that had purpose behind my job, and police officer is always what kind of came to me," Wallin said in the video. "I don't want to be sitting in an office wondering why I'm here every day. I want to be out. I want to be doing something that I can tell myself at the end of the day I made a difference somehow."
Law enforcement agencies from other states planned to attend the funeral. A caravan including Sioux Falls police and South Dakota Highway Patrol left Sioux Falls, South Dakota, on Friday to make the five-and-a-half hour trip for the funeral, KELO-TV reported.
Flags in Minnesota and North Dakota have been ordered flown at half-staff through Saturday.
A public memorial service is planned for Wednesday in Fargo. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum will attend and give remarks, his spokesman said.
On Friday, North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley provided more details about the attack, which also wounded Officers Andrew Dotas and Tyler Hawes and the civilian, who had been involved in the crash.
Barakat was a Syrian national who came to the U.S. on an asylum request in 2012 and became a U.S. citizen in 2019, Wrigley said.
Over the past five years, he had been searching the internet for terms including "kill fast," "explosive ammo," "incendiary rounds," and "mass shooting events," Wrigley said.
Perhaps the most chilling search was for "area events where there are crowds," which on July 13 brought up a news article with the headline, "Thousands enjoy first day of Downtown Fargo Street Fair." On the day of the attack, the downtown fair was in its second day and was less than 3 miles (5 kilometers) from the crash scene.
Barakat also searched for information on the Red River Valley Fair, which was just a 6-mile (10-kilometer) drive from the scene, the attorney general said.
Had Officer Zach Robinson not killed Barakat, authorities said, they shudder to think how much worse the attack might have been. Wrigley said Barakat had an "obvious motive to kill" and was driven by hate, but it was not directed toward any particular group.
There was no evidence that suggested a hatred of police, and all evidence suggests that Barakat came upon the crash by "happenstance" and his ensuing ambush was a diversion from his much bigger intended target, Wrigley said.
Exactly what that target was remains unknown, and Wrigley described Robinson as "the last man standing in that blue line at that moment."
"What he was standing between was not just the horrible events that were unfolding there, but between the horrible events that Mohamad Barakat had envisioned, planned and intended and armed himself for," he said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
Stormy Daniels describes meeting Trump during occasionally graphic testimony in hush money trial
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
U.S. paused bomb shipment to Israel to signal concerns over Rafah invasion, official says
The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the U.S.
Former homicide detective explains how police will investigate shooting outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
Northern Ont. woman makes 'eggstraordinary' find
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Susan Buckner, who played spirited cheerleader Patty Simcox in 'Grease,' dead at 72
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Jeremy Skibicki has 'uphill battle' to prove he's not criminally responsible in Winnipeg killings: legal analysts
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
Bye-bye bag fee: Calgary repeals single-use bylaw
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
Alcohol believed to be a factor in boating incident after 2 men die: N.S. RCMP
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.