MINNEAPOLIS — One student was shot and killed, and another severely wounded outside a school Tuesday afternoon in Richfield, a suburb of Minneapolis-St. Paul, police said.
The shooting happened just after noon on the sidewalk outside the South Education Center, an alternative school in the Intermediate District 287 that serves students from pre-K to age 21.
Richfield Police Chief Jay Henthorne said officers arrived to the school in the 7400 block of South Penn Avenue to discover the two wounded on the sidewalk outside. The suspects had fled the scene by then, he said.
Medical personnel transported the students to Hennepin County Medical Center by ambulance. One of them died there, the chief said. Emergency dispatch audio disclosed that one of the students was shot in the chest.
"This is a tragic day in the city of Richfield," Henthorne said at a short press briefing about 2 1/2 hours after the shooting. "Our ... hearts and prayers and thoughts go out to District 287 students, their families and their community."
The boy who was killed was high school student Jamari Rice, said close family friend Damik Bryant, who is organizing a candlelight vigil for Tuesday night at nearby St. Richard's Catholic Church.
Bryant said Rice was "happy, funny" and liked to play video games.
Rice's father is Cortez Rice, who is in jail on charges that he tried to intimidate Regina Chu, the Hennepin County judge who presided over last month's manslaughter trial of fired Brooklyn Center police Officer Kimberly Potter. She was convicted of killing Daunte Wright last April and awaits sentencing.
"I hope that this wakes the city up," Bryant said. "We need change. We're out here fighting for the community, and the community takes Cortez's son. That makes no sense."
Cortez Rice's attorney, Jordan Kushner, confirmed that his client's son was the student who died.
Kushner said Rice has a hearing scheduled in his case and will push that his client be let out of jail as the prosecution continues.
"He should be able to go home from jail," Kushner said. "His son is killed. ... He would have been taking care of him."
District 287 Superintendent Sandra Lewandowski followed the chief and said, "It is with an exceedingly heavy heart that we learned earlier today there were shots fired outside of the South Education Center near the front entrance."
Lewandowski went on to say that "we expressed our deepest condolences to the families and friends of the victims."
She called the shooting "a terrible tragedy and loss. We are deeply saddened and will do everything we can to ... support the families, classmates and staff in whatever way possible. There are no words to describe the bravery exhibited by our staff and local authorities today. No one should ever have to respond to a tragedy like this."
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."
In September, a student brought a gun to the same school in his backpack. The student did not threaten 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 area 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 metropolitan area are quickly staged Tuesday 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.
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 bulletproof 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.
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(Star Tribune staff writers Christina Saint Louis and Kim Hyatt contributed to this report.)
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