Shooting outside Richfield school kills one student, injures another, police said
Richfield MN Feb 2, 2022 One student was shot and killed, and another severely wounded outside a school Tuesday afternoon in Richfield, police said.
The shooting happened just after noon on the sidewalk outside the South Education Center, an alternative school in the Intermediate District 287.
The gunfire occurred shortly after noon in the 7400 block of S. Penn Avenue, according to emergency dispatch audio.
Richfield Police Chief Jay Henthorne said officers arrived to discover the two students on the sidewalk outside the school. The suspects had fled the scene by then, he said.
Medical personnel transported the students to Hennepin County Medical Center by ambulance.
The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms confirmed that the shooting occurred “near a school in Richfield,” the agency said in a tweet. “This is a developing situation.”
In a tweet, Gov. Tim Walz said, “I’m currently being briefed on the situation unfolding in Richfield. Our Department of Public Safety is in touch with local law enforcement, and we are monitoring the situation closely.”
At 1:30 p.m. buses arrived to pick up students from Blessed Trinity Catholic School.
In September, a student brought a gun to the same school in his backpack. The student did made not threats to harm anyone, and “everything was handled swiftly,” School District spokeswoman Rachel Hicks said at the time.
Hicks added that South Education Center, which serves 11 cities in the west metro and is part of Intermediate District 287, phased out metal detectors, and they are no longer at school entrances. Also, the district in recent years removed all school resource officers and replaced them with student safety coaches to focus on building relationships and working on mental health issues.
Law enforcement agencies from across the metro are staged outside of St. Richard’s Catholic Church, while the parking lot across from the education center is surrounded with crime scene tape. Agencies on scene include the Hennepin County sheriff, and police from Eden Prairie, Richfield, Edina and Minnetonka, along with a Metropolitan Airports Commission Mobile Command Center.
Intermediate District 287 officials said the building is on a “hard lockdown” in a note to families and added that they’re gathering information.
Law enforcement at the scene of a shooting Tuesday outside South Education Center in Richfield.
Officials with the Richfield school district were also reaching out to parents Tuesday.
Around noon, local police and emergency medical personnel “accidentally” arrived at nearby Richfield Middle School, Principal Erica Barlow wrote in a note to families. Officers clad in bullet-proof vests reportedly arrived with their guns drawn, Barlow wrote, but left “As soon as the mistake was realized.”
“It is unlikely that many students witnessed the event, as they were in class at the time. However, it is important that you are aware of the incident in the event that your child hears about it, as some children may be deeply impacted by this type of news,” Barlow wrote.
