Cops: St. Catherine security guard admits he shot himself

Updated 11:45 p.m. | Posted 9:42 p.m.

St. Paul police say a St. Catherine University security officer who claimed to have been shot in the shoulder Tuesday night by a campus intruder admitted he accidentally shot himself and then made up the intruder story.

Authorities said the guard, Brent Patrick Ahlers, 25, of St. Louis Park has been arrested and charged with falsely reporting a crime, which is a misdemeanor.

Police rushed to the St. Catherine campus in Highland Park around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday night after the shooting report, which prompted a campus lockdown and an intense overnight search for the shooter that included more than 50 officers, four K-9s and a Minnesota State Patrol aircraft.

Police initially said an unknown assailant shot the campus security officer after being confronted in a wooded area, and then fled. Officers searched across the campus, including residence halls and apartments. No suspect was found.

On Wednesday night, St. Paul police said Ahlers admitted that he had brought his own weapon to work Tuesday and accidentally shot himself; worried about losing his job, he called 911 and made up the story of an intruder. He was arrested at St. Paul police headquarters at about 9:15 p.m.

"He was nervous about losing his job, due to the fact that he had his gun at work and what had occurred, so he made up the story, to cover what had happened," St. Paul police spokesperson Mike Ernster told reporters.

St. Catherine's is a private, Catholic university with about 4,800 total students, including nearly 2,000 traditional undergraduates, nearly all of them women.

The university said in a statement that Ahlers has worked on the campus public safety team for 15 months with no prior reports of misconduct. He's been placed on a paid leave of absence while the investigation continues.