Man shoots self, tells Saint Paul police someone else did it—is arrested for falsely reporting crime

City of St. Paul sent this bulletin at 09/13/2017 10:51 PM CDT

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 13, 2017

Man shoots self, tells Saint Paul police someone else did it—is arrested for falsely reporting crime

 

The man who told police he was shot by a suspect in a wooded area on the campus of St. Catherine University in Saint Paul has been arrested.

 

Brent Patrick Ahlers, 25, of St. Louis Park, Minn., was arrested at about 9:15 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 13, at Saint Paul police headquarters. According to investigators with the Saint Paul Police Department’s Homicide-Robbery Unit, he admitted to accidently shooting himself a night earlier working as a security guard on the university’s campus.

 

Ahlers told investigators he was handling his gun when it accidently discharged, sending a bullet through his shoulder. He called 9-1-1 and was transported to Regions Hospital by Saint Paul fire medics.

 

While Ahlers was being treated at the hospital, the police department set up a perimeter around campus and conducted an exhaustive search involving 55 officers, four canines and a Minnesota State Patrol aircraft. No suspect was located and the search was called off just after midnight. Meanwhile, investigators worked around the clock to determine what happened.

 

Tonight, Ahlers told investigators he feared losing his job so he made up the story about being shot by a person in the wooded area.

 

He was booked into the Ramsey County jail for falsely reporting a crime, a misdemeanor.

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