First responders share trauma of call of fallen Minneapolis officer Jamal Mitchell
MINNEAPOLIS — On May 30, officer Jamal Mitchell was sent to the Whittier neighborhood of Minneapolis to check out a possible shooting. What happened next still weighs heavily on those called to help.
Among them was a paramedic waiting for word the scene was safe and an ER doctor.
"We saw one of the officers come in to go check out what was happening. And that's when we heard that there was an officer down," Hennepin EMS Paramedic Angela Erikson said. "It's terrible. It's one of your co-workers, it's one of your friends. You don't necessarily know who it is. It's wrong. It's the worst."
Mitchell was down, shot at close range by a man he tried to help. Erikson says they knew it was bad when a police car rushed the officer to the hospital.
"If they're not stopping to get aid from us, you know something terrible has happened. And there was still an active scene going on," Erikson said.
She says multiple ambulances were called in to help at the chaotic scene. Two had been shot in an apartment, another shot in a car, a victim on a scooter and the shooter was down.
"And just a multitude of different law enforcement officers on scene. It turns into a mass casualty and an active shooter situation until everything's figured out," Erikson said.
Inside Hennepin Healthcare, Dr. Nick Simpson and the team got ready to receive patients. They knew the first was an officer.
"I think my mind immediately went back to some of the other tragedies that we've seen recently and, you know, responders that have died in the line of duty," Simpson said.
Simpson says they paged upwards of 800 medical professionals, ready to give the most aggressive help they could give.
"We have basically all hands on deck. And I think, you know, as valiant as we can be in trying to resuscitate, that's what was going on," Simpson said.
Simpson says it took a while to process the gravity of the loss.
"It's been an intentional sort of work through. Conversations with colleagues, conversations with other responders. For me, personally, I think talking with a professional therapist has been helpful," Simpson said.
He and Erikson were both part of the show of support outside the hospital for officer Mitchell's family and colleagues.
"That was when everybody just kind of let it go. There's a lot tears at that point. You don't clock into work thinking that's going to be your last shift," Erikson said.
Erikson is still working through the trauma of that day and the deadly ambush of three first responders in Burnsville.
"We're just starting to really process that and then another thing happens, and another thing happens and so it is becoming harder and harder to work through those," Erikson said.
She's taken time off to be around family.
"It was terrible," Erikson said when asked what it was like to go home. "It was a good and terrible feeling. Right, like, I got to go home."
She hopes others do what they need to take care of themselves.
"You have to talk about it. It doesn't go away. You have to get professional help. You have to talk to people and really start working through that. You got to look out for your co-workers," Erikson said.
Hennepin EMS said it held a debriefing after the incident to help people cope and heal. The Peer Support Team and psychologists were at the hospital that night for support and we're told they continue to be available.