Minnetonka High School offers grief counseling as community mourns death of student

(KMSP) - Though school is out for the summer, some students made their way back to Minnetonka High School on Monday to speak with counselors about the death of their classmate.

Fellow student Archer Amorosi, 16, was shot and killed by authorities Friday.

“[We're] encouraging kids to talk about what they’re feeling,” said Dr. Diana Pandey, adolescent psychiatrist with Allina’s Abbot Northwestern Hospital.

Dr. Pandey explained that parents need to keep the lines of communication open with their teens, particularly while coping with a tragic death under these circumstances.

“Some kids might be feeling a lot of sadness right away. Some kids might be feeling anger right away. Other kids might be feeling kind of numb - and all of those are acceptable. The goal is to try to keep kids engaged and connected with them,” Dr. Pandey said.

Amorosi was set to enter his junior year in the fall and was a member of the Minnetonka High lacrosse and football teams.

The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension reported that Amorosi was suicidal, threatening his mom with knives and a baseball bat.

A pair of Carver County sheriff deputies deployed a taser, but the incident ultimately ended in gunfire. 

Jeff Ische, a father of one of Amorosi’s teammates, explained that healing will come with love and support, but wondered about the possibility of another outcome.

“The boys and the families involved want to know why it had to end this way. There are a lot of unanswered questions that may get answered with time. Until that happens, it’s hard to move on and fully heal,” Ische said.