ST. PETER, Minnesota — St. Peter Police Officer Austin Buss was released from the hospital Friday and escorted home by law enforcement as residents lined the route in support, according to CBS Minnesota / WCCO reporting.

CBS Minnesota reported that Buss had been treated for the past week at North Memorial Health in Robbinsdale after being hurt in a shooting incident involving a suspect. The station said he walked out with his arm in a sling while officers stood at attention outside the hospital.

A law-enforcement motorcade then brought Buss from the Twin Cities area back to St. Peter, a community of more than 11,000, according to the report. Residents quoted by CBS described waiting along the route to wave, show support and welcome him home.

Community support after a dangerous call

The report identified Buss through the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and said the man who shot Officer Buss was later found dead inside the home where the incident happened.

CBS also reported that police helped a woman and a girl get out of the home safely before shots were fired. ThinBlueNews is not adding additional claims about the investigation beyond the source report.

“I was just waving to them all, hoping that he saw us,” St. Peter resident Karen Eastman told CBS Minnesota.

Another resident, Barbara Luker, told the station she was glad Buss was okay and noted she had been on the interview panel when he interviewed for his role.

For Support Law Enforcement readers, the scene was not only about one officer leaving the hospital. It was also a reminder that small communities often understand exactly who shows up when a call turns dangerous — and they remember when an officer comes home to recover.

ThinBlueNews is treating this as an officer-recovery and community-support story. The article avoids graphic detail, does not name uninvolved private people beyond public-source quotes, and stays within facts CBS Minnesota attributed to its reporting and the BCA identification.

Sources reviewed

Editorial note: ThinBlueNews used a real CBS Minnesota/WCCO source still from the hospital-release escort coverage and added headline/source labeling. No AI-generated officer, suspect, hospital or motorcade imagery was used.