We’ve all heard the story before of White people lying on Black people just to save themselves from trouble — and every time it happens, it’s more bizarre than the last.
This time around, it was a college campus security guard who didn’t want to face the consequences of accidentally shooting himself. After shooting himself in the shoulder on Thursday, Brent P. Ahlers’, and officer at Minnesota college, made up a story about a Black gunman in order to cover up his mistake.
According to The Star Tribune, St. Paul police were immediately skeptical of Ahlers’ story that he had been shot by a black gunman in a navy blue sweatshirt with a short Afro. They did not publicly share the description of the supposed shooter. Despite their initial suspicion, the campus of St. Catherine University was still put on lockdown for hours as 55 police officers, four K-9 units and Minnesota State Patrol aircraft searched for the alleged suspect.
The 25-year-old White campus cop finally came clean after police came back from their search of the alleged culprit empty-handed. On Wednesday, Ahlers told police that he made up the story because he was afraid of losing his job, where firearms are not permitted and not issued to security personnel.
After being treated for a shoulder wound, the campus guard was booked into the Ramsey County jail and cited for falsely reporting a crime. He was released on his own recognizance at 4:30 a.m on Thursday. But the repercussions didn’t end there, St. Catherine University President Becky Roloff posted a statement to the school’s website Thursday evening condemning Ahler’s actions and saying that he had been fired by the university.
She wrote, “Brent Ahlers was put on paid leave September 13 while the St. Paul Police conducted their investigation and the University completed a review of the facts. That status has now changed. He is no longer an employee of the University effective today, September 14. Second, I want to be clear that St. Catherine University strongly condemns racial discrimination, racial stereotyping, and racial profiling of any kind.
All is well that ends well. Do you think justice was fully served?
