N.D. police officer killed in standoff

FARGO, N.D. — A North Dakota police officer died Thursday after being hit by a gunshot that authorities suspect was fired by a man later found dead in the home where the officer had responded to a domestic disturbance call.

Officer Jason Moszer, a six-year police veteran with a wife and two children, died from a single gunshot wound, a police spokesman said. Family members visited him in a hospital earlier in the day to say goodbye, Fargo Police Chief David Todd said.

The shooting unfolded Wednesday evening when the suspect, identified by police as Marcus Schumacher, fired at officers responding to the domestic disturbance call. A standoff ensued overnight, and when the firing stopped, police discovered Schumacher dead inside the home. It wasn’t immediately clear whether he killed himself or died from police gunfire, police said.

Schumacher, 49, appeared to have died from a gunshot wound, but “we don’t know if that was from us engaging him or something self-inflicted,” Todd said. Todd said earlier that Schumacher had exchanged gunfire with a SWAT officer.

Todd said a squad car at the scene had been fired upon and that he believes the suspect was targeting law enforcement. Police said no one else in the neighborhood was hurt.

Moszer, 33, was among officers who responded to the home Wednesday evening. A SWAT team in an armored vehicle got to Moszer and took him to a medical facility, where he died.

Officers responded after Schumacher’s son called dispatchers and said the suspect had fired a gun at his mother, Schumacher’s wife. The caller and his mother escaped the home unharmed.