Student Recounts Standoff Situation

GABBY HARTZE | THE SPECTRUM The house at 308 Ninth Avenue North was the scene of a standoff on the night of Feb. 10-11.
GABBY HARTZE | THE SPECTRUM
The house at 308 Ninth Avenue North was the scene of a standoff on the night of Feb. 10-11.

Keely Spiess wasn’t first aware of last Thursday’s north Fargo standoff.

The sophomore in interior design was at home and inside the night of an eight-hour standoff between Fargo Police and suspected gunman Marcus Schumacher. Spiess grew up in the neighborhood of the house where the standoff took place, at 308 9th Avenue North.

“I’ve never heard of anything like that happening in Fargo, and I’ve lived here for 19 years,” Spiess said. She graduated from Fargo North High School in 2014.

The standoff lasted from the late hours of Feb. 10 to the morning hours of Feb. 11. Fargo Police responded to a domestic disturbance at the 9th Avenue house.

It was there that Officer Jason, Moszer, a six-year Fargo Police veteran and 2009 North Dakota State graduate, sustained a single, fatal gunshot wound.

Moszer, 33, died Thursday afternoon.

“That just doesn’t happen here,” Spiess said.

A resident saw Moszer lying on the ground by his squad car in an alley, prompting the resident to contact local police dispatch. Red River SWAT officers responded to the scene to extricate Moszer and take him to a local medical facility.

Around 9 p.m. Feb. 10, police sent out an emergency alert to north Fargo residents warning them to stay in their homes and go into their basements. Some homes in the area were being evacuated about 9:30 p.m.

At around 12:30 a.m. Thursday, SWAT team officers were going door-to-door in the neighborhood, asking residents if they were OK and telling them to remain in the lower level of their residences.

Residents were cleared to leave shelter shortly after 6 a.m., Fargo Police Sergeant Christopher Nichtern said in an email to the local media.

Spiess said that she was not aware of the situation immediately, only learning about it after a friend had texted her warning to look out for an active shooter if she were on campus.

The incident is still under investigation by the Cass County Sheriff’s Office and the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

Moszer was the first Fargo Police officer killed in the line of duty since 1882. His funeral will be held Monday.

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