Okay, let’s head off to Minnesota.

St. Catherine University Security Officer Brent Ahlers was shot in the shoulder earlier this week while on duty.  The quiet little town was horrified.

[Police Sergeant] Ernster said 55 police officers and four K-9s, as well as a State Patrol aircraft, joined in the search for a suspect on Tuesday night. Scanner reports described a man in a navy blue sweatshirt and black jeans. Ahlers was taken to Regions Hospital with noncritical injuries.

Police conducted a building-by-building search and advised people to stay indoors as they searched for the shooter.

The campus was put on lockdown. People in town started calling police to come to their homes because they thought the shooter was in their backyards.

The search continued the next day.  They don’t cotton to shootin’ security guards at St. Catherine’s so they were pulling out all stops.

Yeah, except that Security Office Brent Ahlers finally admitted that he shot himself.

While interviewing Ahlers about 9:15 p.m. Wednesday, he told officers that he was in a wooded area of the campus about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday. He had brought his personal handgun from home and was handling it when it accidentally discharged, hitting him in the shoulder.

He told police he’d lied and said he made up the story because he was afraid of losing his job because he’d brought a gun to work with him.

They probably won’t let him back on campus either.

Thanks to Elizabeth for the heads up.