On March 8, 2022 at approximately 10:24 PM the Nicollet County Sheriff’s Office received a report from a St. Peter school bus that two vehicles were either throwing or shooting things at the bus. The location of this incident was Highway 15 near the intersection of 412th Street located within Nicollet County.
The school bus was carrying the boys’ basketball team back to St. Peter from playing a game at New Ulm Public School. One vehicle got in front of the bus and slowed the bus down, while a second vehicle pulled next to it and shot or threw items at the bus. The vehicle backed off and then pulled up again and did it a second time.
Deputies met the school bus in St. Peter and found no damage to the bus. Deputies spoke to some of the passengers and they described the sound like paintballs hitting the side of the bus and that it was loud.
On March 9th, 2022 Investigators followed up on information of who may have been involved. Four individuals have been identified and were the occupants of the two cars involved with the bus incident.
A Splatball SRB- 400 full auto water bead blaster was used to shoot at the bus. This is something similar to an air soft gun. It shoots 7.5 mm water bead ammunition, (like mini water balloons) at the rate of eight rounds per second at a velocity of 200 ft. per second. There was no damage or marks on the bus as a result of the incident.
The investigation is ongoing; however all individuals who were involved are believed to have been identified. Authorities did not release their names.