Two dead following shootout with law enforcement in Moorhead

Two men were shot and killed in an apartment in Moorhead, Minn., during a reported gunfight with police.

Around 9 p.m. Monday, Moorhead police responded to a report of a domestic assault at an apartment complex in the 2400 block of 3rd Avenue N.

The victim had told authorities she was being attacked by two people she knew, according to a Tuesday release from the Moorhead Police Department. She also said two children were inside the apartment.

“When officers attempted to make contact with the suspect[s] inside the apartment, they encountered gunfire,” the police department said in the release.

After police evacuated nearby apartment units, Moorhead police requested mutual aid, and the Red River Valley SWAT Team was deployed to assist. At one point, the Red River Valley SWAT Team exchanged gunfire with someone within the apartment which resulted in the two men being shot.

One of the men died at the scene. The other man was taken to a hospital, where he later died from his injuries. The identity of the two men and the manner of their deaths will be released at a later time, according to police.

Nobody else was injured.

The SWAT team is a multijurisdictional unit comprised of personnel from the Fargo Police Department, West Fargo Police Department, NDSU Police Department, Cass County Sheriff’s Office, Moorhead Police Department and Clay County Sheriff’s Office.

The state’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) is now leading the investigation into the incident.

Early Tuesday morning, police asked people to avoid using Hwy. 75 between Hwy. 10 and 15th Avenue N., where the incident unfolded.

Resident Kervin Wyatt was told to evacuate by police and was forced to wait outside the apartment building in his car as events unfolded Monday night. He said he saw one of the shooting victims brought out.

Wyatt, who has lived in the complex for two years, said the building has been “quiet for the most part.”