On the evening of August 1, 2002, 35-year-old Minneapolis Police Department officer Melissa Jayne Schmidt was shot while on duty at the Horn Towers public housing complex. Officer Schmidt and her partner had made contact with a 60-year-old woman, Martha Donald, after a preliminary search of Donald and her vehicle turned up bullets but no firearm. Donald then asked to use a restroom and, while inside with Officer Schmidt, produced a concealed handgun and fired, striking Schmidt in the abdomen below her protective vest.

Despite her wound, Officer Schmidt returned fire and fatally wounded Donald. Schmidt, a United States Marine Corps veteran who had served with the department for over six years, was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center and later died from her injuries; Donald was also pronounced dead at the hospital. No arrests were made because the sole suspect died at the scene.

If anyone has information about the incident or remembers being at Horn Towers that evening, please share what you know.