UPDATE 11:50 a.m.

An active shooter call in Farmington resulted in a “hairy” Monday morning for the Farmington Police Department, said Sgt. Bob Sauter of the Farmington Police Department.

A Farmington man, described by police as “an older man in his sixties,” alarmed neighbors on the 300 block of Walnut St. when, fed up with the squirrels on his property, he took out his pellet gun and started shooting.

After that, he packed up his fishing gear and left.

Police, however, heard a different story when a local resident called in the incident.

“The initial call was that there was a man outside with a rifle shooting off rounds,” said Sauter.

The caller was ambiguous on the exact location, guessing the 400 block of Oak St., and the department, having had some dealings with a house near there, weren’t taking any chances, Sauter said.

“It just so happened, at the original location that came out, we had had several incidents on that block that made it a little hairy,” he said.

An “active shooter” call sets in motion an aggressive response.

The Dakota County Sheriff’s Department and the Lakeville Police Department were notified and the Dakota MAG (or SWAT) team was put on standby. An armored vehicle came down to the area, but Sauter said it wasn’t used.

No helicopters were summoned, although, if it had been a true active shooter, “it wouldn’t have been a bad idea,” he said.

Once police located the man in question, they learned the truth and did not arrest him.

“He feels pretty bad about it,” Sgt. Sauter said. “There was no intent.”

Police did notify four nearby Farmington schools during the incident – Farmington Elementary, Boeckman Middle, Dodge Middle, Riverview Elementary. All four went into modified lockdown for about 20 minutes.

A modified lockdown is a safety precaution during which all doors are locked and no one is allowed in or out of the school building. All students and staff remained safe and secure during the lockdown, district officials said.

Officers on the scene were telling residents to go inside, as they set up a perimeter around the two possible locations.

Farmington Elementary School was the closest school to the incident. They were notified by police during their drop off time, about 8:55 a.m., Principal Kim Bollesen said.

Children who had been bussed in were all inside, but students being dropped off by parents were still outside the building.

Bollesen said she notified the teachers and staff that there was a danger in the community, but not in the building. They brought all of the children and some parents into the school and locked the doors.

“We practiced this last year. But we’d never practiced at the time it was chaotic like this,” Bollesen said.

“I just want to congratulate the staff on doing such a good job,” she said. “There’s always things to learn.”

She said she’d planned a meeting with the staff after school to go over how the school responded to the incident.



UPDATE 10:24 a.m.

Four Farmington schools were placed on modified lockdown for about 20 minutes while police were searching for an active shooter around 9:30 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 19.

The school district reported that the lockdown at Farmington Elementary, Boeckman Middle, Dodge Middle, and Riverview Elementary schools was done in response to a request from the Farmington Police Department. A modified lockdown is a safety precaution during which all doors are locked and no one is allowed in or out of the school building. All students and staff remained safe and secure during the lockdown, district officials said.

No officers with the Farmington Police Department were available for comment, but one officer on scene advised citizens to stay inside and away from the area.

At around 9:35 a.m., the Farmington Police Department posted the following message on Facebook: “The police incident in downtown Farmington has been cleared. Some of the schools were put on lockdown as a precaution. There was never any direct threat to the schools.”

Lakeville police were assisting with the search. Anchor Bank was on lockdown as well.

We’ll continue to update this story with more details as they are available.