Fargo reeling after shootout

What started as just another Wednesday in Fargo for many of us last week, ended quite differently. It’s an interesting feeling when you decide not to go out and meet friends downtown because one of your favorite watering holes  which never closes had its doors locked and many others were on lock down following a shootout with police at a residence near downtown.

The aftermath of the shooting of police officer Jason Moszer, who was responding to a domestic violence call. has many in the city of Fargo reeling in different ways. I went home following dinner that night to get some work done online and promptly got hooked on social media chatter from people living near the standoff.

I never felt in the least bit unsafe except for maybe a brief moment when I received what I believe to be an erroneous call to go in my basement at 1 am, which was many hours following the incidents beginning. I promptly started looking for evidence the standoff had grown from its north location to near my apartment in south Fargo and finding none the fear quickly subsided. But it was a scary night for those stuck in their homes and those who couldn’t get back home because they lived near the standoff.

And everything took on way more importance however when an audibly shaken Fargo Police Chief David Todd announced after 2 am that officer Jason Moszer would not survive injuries suffered from the standoff. This was something we’ve never experienced. I immediately saw reports from friends on Facebook of what kind of an Officer Jason Moszer was and people’s direct encounters with him. He was by all accounts one hell of a police officer and exactly what every department wants and needs.

I started to see some people say this is a sign that Fargo is getting too big and crime is out of control. I disagree with that sentiment wholeheartedly. Set aside Fargo’s current crime problems and growth issues at the moment, this could happen anywhere. Domestic violence is an issue which can affect cities large and small. People can snap anywhere and when they do, it is always possible for their victims list to expand out from their immediate family. There are Marcus Schumacher’s all across this country.

Incredibly, everyone in the Schumacher family who called 911 for help survived this tragedy although I can’t even imagine what wounds they must have from years of dealing with the person responsible for all of this, Marcus Schumacher. Cass County Sheriff Paul Laney stated that he felt that Officer Moszer’s death was a sign that law enforcement was being hunted and I guess I just don’t see that, all due respect to him. The Schumacher family were the ones being hunted and probably for many years with battle scars to show for it. I haven’t seen any evidence that Schumacher’s motives were to hurt law enforcement, not saying there aren’t people out there who do that but this doesn’t strike me as a case where he was one of them. Unfortunately, Officer Moszer got in the way of Schumacher’s war on his own family. His sacrifice will not be forgotten.

How a man with a criminal past has an arsenal of guns to have a standoff remains to be seen. WDAY TV reported Schumacher was a felon from the early 1990s and probably was past his 10-year ban on firearms from that conviction. North Dakota Century Code allows felons to own firearms 10 years after they complete their sentence. Why? I don’t know. North Dakota law should be the same as federal law where lifetime bans on owning or possessing firearms follow felony convictions. 

But Schumacher was also convicted of a misdemeanor involving violence in 2013. Unsurprisingly for pushing his wife (he only got a year probation however) and those convictions can result in a five year ban on owning or possessing firearms and that should have been still in effect. It is quite possible Marcus Schumacher had all these guns illegally and purchased them on the black market. If so, find out where he got them and go after the firearms dealers. But if he did not, there needs to be a discussion about why we make it so damn easy for people to do these horrible things? Yes, they could and will still happen. But why make it easier for people to own guns who shouldn’t?

 We are not talking about law abiding citizens here. These are criminals who have given up their rights. I hope the ND BCI investigation into Officer Moszer’s death lets us know how he had acquired that arsenal; it is an important part in the search for answers as to why this happened.

As is any discussion of the impact of domestic violence, whether or not his family had sought help and whether or not Marcus Schumacher had sought mental health help for whatever demons he faced. Maybe he should’ve gotten more than a year probation for pushing his wife in 2013. Maybe a mental health evaluation should be required in cases like that. We know he slipped through the cracks, we just don’t know exactly how yet. Maybe nothing could have been done to prevent this. But we need to be sure and we need to make sure we do everything in our power that this never happens again.