Jabez Choi photos
Minneapolis officers with Mitchell's casket on Monday.
Mitchell's cousin, Mamie Gardner: “He always had a pleasant smile. Always.”
(Updated) Police officers kicked their motorcycles into gear on Dixwell Avenue early Monday morning for the start of the funeral procession for Minneapolis officer and New Haven native Jamal Mitchell, who was killed in the line of duty last month.
Minneapolis officers carried Mitchell’s casket into a car outside of McClam Funeral Home at 95 Dixwell Ave. at around 8:15 a.m. Then, the procession made its way to the Floyd Little fieldhouse at Hillhouse High School, where the funeral ceremony took place before Mitchell’s planned burial at Evergreen Cemetery later in the day.
Officers from Massachusetts, New Jersey, Minnesota, and Connecticut, including Stamford, Greenwich, Hartford, Hamden, Waterbury, Rocky Hill, and New Haven, participated in the procession and were present at the funeral, along with Mitchell’s family and friends and other grieving New Haveners.
Mitchell, 36, was shot and killed in Minneapolis on May 30 by the very gunshot victim to whom he was trying to provide aid. That man, Mustafa Mohamed, was then shot and killed by another Minneapolis officer.
“My first thought was for his family. Then my second thought was for the agency in Minneapolis because they’re obviously grieving,” Danbury Police Captain Joseph LeRose said on Monday. “It’s a brotherhood. It’s like an extended second family.”
Mitchell, affectionately known as “Mally,” graduated from Wilbur Cross High School in 2007. In 2018, he relocated to Maple Grove, Minnesota to work as a TSA agent before becoming a police officer. In February 2023, Mitchell was awarded police officer of the month.
Officer Jamal Mitchell.
Mitchell left behind four children and a “big, big family,” according to Mamie Gardner, Mitchell’s cousin. According to Gardner, Mitchell was humble and family-oriented, coming to family cookouts when he had the time. His children were “his life.” When he was not playing basketball or working out in the gym, he was volunteering at his church or the Boy Scouts, among other community groups.
“He always had a pleasant smile. Always,” Gardner said. “Always ambitious and to have things better, not only for his own family, but for his cousins and extended family.”
Gardner pointed to the family around, who sat near the front, next to Mitchell’s casket, at the Floyd Little center on Sherman Parkway.
There, Mitchell’s family had tears in their eyes. But every moment or so, sentimental laughter would sneak into their voices and they would smile.
“It’s a bittersweet moment,” Gardner said. “We have a very large family. But we haven’t seen family members in years. And today, I’m so happy that we see each other not because Jamal has passed, but because of what he left for us. His kindness, his smile.”
Budicisa Moore, who attends church with Mitchell’s grandmother, noted that the last time she had seen Mitchell was at his grandfather’s funeral. There, Moore noticed that Mitchell had seemed “really, really happy” and had “no complaints.”
“He doesn’t have to struggle through the trials of life anymore,” Moore said. “For today I just have to be strong and pray for everyone’s strength to get through it.
Update: The ceremony, stretched from around 11 a.m. to 1:20 p.m., included speeches from Mayor Justin Elicker, Chief Karl Jacobsen, Minneapolis Chief of Police Brian O’Hara, and former Yale police chief and current top state public safety official Ronnell Higgins. All lauded Mitchell for his bravery and his commitment to the Minneapolis community.
O’Hara brought up a story in which Mitchell rushed into a burning house to save an elderly couple. The feat earned him the department’s lifesaver award — police officers, according to Higgins, are not trained to put out fires, but are to put their “lives in front of others…Mitchell answered the call.
“As a Minneapolis Police Officer, Jamal was absolutely everything we could possibly have asked for,” O’Hara said. “Jamal was courageous to his core.”
Higgins brought the ceremony back to family, noting that Father’s Day was the day prior.
“Though he cannot hear us say the words ‘Happy Father’s Day, dad,’” Higgins said, “he continues to provide for his family at this time on this beautiful day.”
The ceremony ended with a spirited eulogy from Mitchell’s 101-year old great-grandmother Apostle Martha Green, who emphasized Mitchell’s kindness and his commitment to answering his calling in Minnesota.
“You can’t live unless you prepare,” Green said. “You must be prepared.”
Inside the Floyd Little fieldhouse on Monday.
Budicisa Moore: “He doesn’t have to struggle through the trials of life anymore.”