Fargo Shaken by First Line-of-Duty Cop Death Since 1882

Suspected shooter was found dead the next day
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Feb 12, 2016 3:23 AM CST
Fargo Shaken by First Line-of-Duty Cop Death Since 1882
Sheriff's deputies secure an area in North Fargo after the shooting.   (Dave Kolpack)

The death of a Fargo police officer in the line of duty has shaken the city, North Dakota's largest. Officer Jason Moszer, 33, died Thursday of a gunshot wound suffered while responding to a domestic disturbance hours earlier. The six-year veteran of the force, who had a wife and two children, is just the second Fargo officer to die in the line of duty and the first in more than a century. Moszer was hit while standing outside a house near downtown around 7pm Wednesday, and police had warned overnight he wasn't expected to survive. The suspected shooter, Marcus Schumacher, 49, was found dead shortly before dawn Thursday. Police said they weren't sure whether Schumacher died of a police bullet or shot himself.

Fargo Mayor Tim Mahoney said in a statement the city was "profoundly saddened" by the death of Moszer, who won a Silver Star commendation after he and another officer were credited with risking their lives in 2011 to rescue two children from an apartment fire, the AP reports. The only other Fargo police officer killed in the line of duty was Frederick Alderman, who was shot to death July 5, 1882, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page, a national nonprofit group that keeps records of fallen officers. He was shot in a case of mistaken identity after going to the wrong house while looking for a drunk who had used a stolen watch to pay a fine. (On Wednesday, two deputies were shot dead after a man opened fire in a Panera Bread in Maryland.)

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