One student was killed and another critically injured in a shooting Tuesday afternoon near the front gate of a school in suburban Minneapolis, police said. Sheriff Jay Henthorne said the students were shot outside the Boys' Education Center in Richfield, a suburb just south of Minneapolis. The surviving student is in critical condition at a local hospital. Henthorne said the suspects fled and police searched the area. Richfield police arrested two suspects and recovered a handgun after executing simultaneous search warrants at two Minneapolis addresses. 

South Education Center has about 200 students, according to its website, which describes it as a special education program and an alternative high school, with preschool students. It is part of District 287, providing services to 11 school districts in the Minneapolis area as well as a number of students in other counties. Superintendent 287, Sandra Lewandowski said students were shot near the main entrance to the school. 

Family friend Damik Bryant has identified the slain student as Jamari Rice, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported. Kris Pulford, head football coach at Richfield High School, where Rice played as a freshman and  sophomore last season, told the paper it was Rice's second day at South.