Richfield police say one student has died and another was critically injured after a shooting outside the city’s South Education Center Tuesday afternoon.
Officers were called at 12:07 p.m. to the school and found two students shot on the sidewalk outside. The suspects had fled the scene, Jay Henthorne, Richfield’s police chief, told reporters. Both students were taken to HCMC.
Richfield High School head football coach Kris Pulford told MPR News that the student who was fatally shot Tuesday was Jamari Rice, son of local activist Cortez Rice.
Schools around South Education Center were put on lockdown as a precaution. The lockdowns have since been lifted. The incident remains under investigation and the suspect at large, Henthorne said, calling it a “tragic day in the city of Richfield.”
Earlier, Richfield Middle School’s principal wrote to parents saying that around noon, police accidentally showed up outside their school in response to an emergency call from the South Education Center.
“The officers had weapons drawn and were in bullet-proof vests. It is unlikely that many students witnessed the event, as they were in class at the time,” Erica Barlow wrote to parents.
2 In Custody
Richfield police say two people are in custody in connection to the shooting, which happened just after noon on the sidewalk outside South Education Center, located on 7450 Penn Avenue South.
Two search warrants were executed at different locations in Minneapolis. One gun was recovered, but it’s not clear if it was the weapon used in Tuesday’s shooting.
Police Chief Jay Henthorne called the event a “tragic day in the city of Richfield.” Responding police officers found the two students wounded at the school. Emergency crews brought them to Hennepin Healthcare, where one of them died. The other student remains in critical condition.
While officials have yet to release the victims’ names, friends say the student killed was Jamari Rice.
“As a dad, I know that hearing of a shooting by a school is a parent’s greatest fear,” said Gov. Tim Walz, in a statement. “Minnesotans deserve to know that when they send their kids to school, they will come home safely.”
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