One student dead, another critically injured in shooting outside school in U.S. Minnesota

WASHINGTON, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- One student died and another was critically injured after being shot outside a school in Richfield, midwestern U.S. state of Minnesota, on Tuesday.

The shooting occurred around noon at the South Education Center, an alternative school that serves about 200 students from pre-K to age 21 in the region, police said.

Officers discovered that two students had been shot on the sidewalk near the school's front entrance, and the suspect fled the scene immediately after the shooting.

Both injured students were transported to hospital. One student succumbed to his injuries, while the other remained in critical condition.

Richfield, a suburban city in Hennepin County, is about a 20-minute drive south of Minneapolis, a major city in Minnesota.