Stewartville schools will open late Monday with law enforcement presence, following shooting

Stewartville schools will open late on Monday following a shooting that injured a student on the wrestling team outside the city’s high school on Friday.

School staff members will attend meetings with principals and counseling staff Monday morning before classes resume on a late start schedule, Stewartville Public Schools Superintendent Belinda Selfors said in a Facebook post. Morning preschools are canceled.

Law enforcement and additional mental health support will be on hand at every district school when doors open.

“We know this experience has deeply affected our students, our staff, and families across our communities,” Selfors said in the post. “There is no handbook for moments like this, and every child — and every family — will respond differently."

A press conference will be held at the Stewartville Fire Hall at 9 a.m. Monday where Olmsted County Sheriff Kevin Torgerson will update the community.

The Stewartville school district cancelled high school and middle school classes Friday as word of the shooting spread. Shootings in the city 12 miles south of Rochester are “very rare,” Torgerson said at a news conference that day.

The shooting happened around 5 a.m. on Friday as a bus was getting ready to transport the school’s wrestling team to a competition. The students were reunited with family as soon as possible after the incident, the Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office said.

The injured student was taken to a local hospital and was in serious but stable condition following surgery, the sheriff’s office said. The shooter died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The sheriff’s office said both families of the involved parties are cooperating with the investigation, but it has not identified anyone involved in the incident.

Most of the students on the bus didn’t know what happened, Torgerson said. Several people heard a gunshot and found a member of the wrestling team injured. A short time later, they heard a second shot and saw a person in the parking lot had died from a self-inflicted gunshot.

Selfors said district staff “will approach this transition with flexibility, patience, and care.” Connection, safety and emotional well-being, she said, are the district’s priorities following the shooting.

Minnesota politicians shared their condolences for the students and their families over the weekend on X.

“My heart is with the Stewartville community after a horrifying shooting this morning,” Gov. Tim Walz said, adding that he was grateful for the swift actions of first responders.

Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan tweeted about the shooting, which occurred on a weekend plagued with gun violence, including a shooting on the Brown University campus in Rhode Island that killed two people and a terrorist attack on a Hanukkah festival in Australia that left 15 dead.

“From [Stewartville] to Brown University to the attack this morning in Australia, senseless acts of gun violence have robbed families of beloved members during the holiday season,” she said.