Fargo Gunman Searched Mass Shootings Online
Mr. Barakat’s final search, Mr. Wrigley said at a Friday news conference, entered at 10:30 p.m. on July 13, read, “Thousands enjoy first day of downtown Fargo street fair.” A local news article by that title had been published on the same day.
The shooting occurred the next day.
The police and fire crews were responding to a two-vehicle collision in Fargo at around 3 p.m. on July 14. Mr. Barakat spent several minutes “casing out” the crash scene from his car before parking in a nearby parking lot, officials said. From his vehicle, Mr. Barakat fired a rapid burst at three police officers at the scene using a scoped .223-caliber rifle.
“None of the officers even had so much as an opportunity to turn, crouch, to grab for their service weapon — nothing,” Mr. Wrigley said. “It’s that rapid. They drop, drop, drop.”
Jake Wallin, 23, one of the officers hit in the attack, was killed, while two others were injured.
The civilians involved in the car accident crouched for their lives,Mr. Wrigley said, while a fourth officer, Zach Robinson, called for backup and returned fire. The gunman shot and wounded a civilian who had been involved in the accident before Mr. Robinson’s fire struck Mr. Barakat and broke his rifle. Knocked down, Mr. Barakat tried to fire back with a 9-millimeter handgun before he was killed by Mr. Robinson, officials said.
Mr. Wrigley said he believed Mr. Barakat might have been on his way to kill more people in downtown Fargo. Inside the gunman’s car and on his body, investigators discovered more weapons: four semiautomatic handguns, three semiautomatic long rifles, three containers filled with gasoline and two containers filled with “explosive materials,” officials said.
Source: The New York Times
