An active shooter fatally shot two cops before being apprehended at Bridgewater College in Bridgewater, Va. on Tuesday. At the same time, a separate shooting incident took place outside a school in Richfield, Minn., leaving one student dead and one critically injured.
Bridgewater College President David Bushman said in an email to students that campus police officer John Painter and safety officer J.J. Jefferson died after being shot, Local Daily News-Record reported. Bushman called the officers “close friends, known to many of us as ‘the dynamic duo.’”
Bridgewater College tweeted just after 4:30 pm — approximately three hours after the incident was reported — that two officers were shot and an armed suspect who initially fled was later apprehended. The school also officially lifted the lockdown.
At around 1:24 p.m. ET, the school first tweeted, “Reports of active shooter on campus. Shelter in place.”
Daily News-Record reporter Ian Munro tweeted a photo appearing to show police arresting a suspect. “A man was taken into custody by law enforcement following an active shooter alert at Bridgewater College on Tuesday. Photo by Daniel Lin.”
The Harrisonburg Police Department and FBI were involved in the response and apprehension.
“I have been briefed on the situation at Bridgewater College,” Virginia Gov. Glenn Younkgin tweeted. “The shooter is in custody and state and local police are on the scene. I will continue to monitor the situation in conjunction with law enforcement.”
Federal authorities, including members of the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) also responded to a shooting outside a special education school in Richfield, Minnesota on Tuesday.
Richfield Police Chief Jay Henthorne confirmed during a press conference that two students were critically shot on the sidewalk outside the school One student died at the hospital of their injuries. The shooting suspects fled the scene and remain at large.
The shootings come on the same day CNN reported 13 historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) had to lock down or postpone classes on Tuesday, the first day of Black History Month, due to bomb threats. At least one of the colleges, Howard University, received a bomb threat the day earlier on Monday.
