Police indicated that 37-year-old Mohamad Barakat, the man who shot and killed a Fargo, North Dakota, police officer on July 14, 2023, was armed with seven guns, a hand grenade, and nearly 2,000 rounds of ammunition, among other things.
On July 15, 2023, Breitbart News reported that police identified Barakat as the shooter, noting that he allegedly killed Officer Jake Wallin and wounded Officers Andrew Dotas and Tyler Hawes.
Officer Zach Robinson shot and killed Barakat at the scene of the attack.
Official portraits of Fargo, North Dakota, police officers involved in a shooting a day earlier are displayed during a news conference on July 15, 2023, at Fargo City Hall. (AP Photo/Ann Arbor Miller )
According to FOX News, North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley said of Officer Robinson’s use of deadly force:
In the wake of Mohamad Barakat’s murderous, unprovoked attack, Officer Zach Robinson’s use of deadly force was reasonable, it was necessary, it was justified, and in all ways, it was lawful. Mohamad Barakat engaged in a savage attack. … He unleashed what can only be described fairly as a murderous barrage of fire. But that isn’t to say it wasn’t precise. In fact, it was.
Wrigley indicated Barakat had three rifles, four handguns, 1,800 rounds of ammunition, canisters full of gasoline, a homemade grenade, and a non-bulletproof vest, every pocket of which contained an ammunition magazine.
Fargo Mayor Tim Mahoney commented, “When you look at the amount of ammunition this shooter had in his car, he was planning on more mayhem in our community.”
Mayor Tim Mahoney responds to questions about Friday’s shooting during a news conference on July 15, 2023, in Fargo, North Dakota. (AP Photo/Ann Arbor Miller)
Wrigley indicated that one of Officer Robinson’s shots hit Barakat’s rifle, rendering it inoperable. Barakat drew a 9mm handgun and allegedly waved it around thereafter; then Robinson shot him dead.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010 and holds a Ph.D. in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at
