Fond du Lac Ojibwe School, tribal officials end lockdown; shooting suspect in custody
By Duluth News Tribune staff
The suspect in the Friday morning shooting on the Fond du Lac Reservation that sent a school and tribal offices into lockdown is in custody.
The shooting happened at about 9:46 a.m. in the gymnasium of the Fond du Lac Tribal Center at 1720 Big Lake Road in Cloquet, Derek Randall, interim chief of the Cloquet Police Department, said at a news conference late Friday morning.
The suspect is in custody of the Cloquet Police Department and the victim has been transported to a Duluth hospital, Randall said. The condition is not yet known.
"Everybody is safe," Randall said.
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Randall said the victim was attending the visitation and funeral for tribal member Hazel Barbara Olson, which was being held at the gym Friday morning, according to her obituary.
The shooting caused lockdowns at the nearby Fond du Lac Ojibwe School, tribal offices and hospital. The lockdowns have been lifted.
"These kinds of situations happen everywhere, but it really hurts when it happens in your own community," Rita Aspinwall, a spokesperson for the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, said at the news conference.
The school was on "full lockdown," a staff member who answered the phone at the school confirmed to the News Tribune. School was not in session Friday. Offices were also on lockdown.
"The Fond du Lac tribal offices are on lockdown and employees are sheltering in place," Aspinwall said just before 11 a.m. Friday.
As of 11:15 a.m., however, employees were allowed to leave the Tribal Center, but no one could go in, a News Tribune reporter on scene said.
Throughout the morning, cars were pulling into a parking lot looking onto the school. Parents of school children were notified of the shooting through an automated voice message.
A man said he was doing paperwork at the neighboring Fond du Lac Tribal Center when he saw someone drive the victim of the shooting from the school to the tribal center where they waited until first responders arrived. He asked not to be named.
State Patrol, Cloquet Police Department, Carlton County Sheriff's Office and the Fond du Lac Police Department all responded to the incident.
The Pokey Paro Ojibwe School Powwow scheduled for this afternoon and evening at the school has been canceled, organizers said.
This story originally ran in the Duluth News Tribune. It is a developing story and will continue to be updated.