STEWARTVILLE — A shooting in the parking lot of Stewartville High School early Friday morning left one person dead and a student hospitalized in critical condition.
Olmsted County Sheriff Kevin Torgerson says an adult male died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after apparently shooting the student. The sheriff is not naming either the student or the adult.
In a news conference Friday morning, Torgerson said the shooting happened at about 5 a.m. Friday at the high school about 10 miles outside of Rochester, as members of the Stewartville wrestling team and their coaches were boarding a bus to head to a meet.
Torgerson said a person walking toward the bus heard a shot, and a male student was seen on the ground. Then a second shot was heard.
The sheriff says that a juvenile male victim was transported to St. Marys Hospital in Rochester by Mayo Clinic ambulance service and went immediately into surgery. He said the juvenile is a high school student and member of the wrestling team, and he is in critical but stable condition.
“An adult male was located laying on the ground nearby with a rifle in hand; the subject appeared to have had suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound,” Torgerson said. “This subject was then pronounced deceased at the scene.”
The sheriff would not say what the relationship was between the injured student and the man who died by suicide, but he says the investigation into the shooting continues.
Classes at Stewartville schools are canceled today.
All of the students who were on the bus were taken to a reunification center set up with the assistance of Stewartville school staff, and all have been reunified with their parents.
Stewartville Superintendent Belinda Selfors said that in addition to canceling classes Friday, school officials also called off high school basketball games Friday night.
The sheriff says that there is no additional threat to students, staff or the public at this time.
Selfors wrote in a message to the school community that was posted online just after 9 a.m. “We are supporting the investigation in any way we can. Due to the ongoing investigation, we cannot share further details at this time.
“Please keep our students, staff, families, and community members in your prayers.”