St. Peter police officer Austin Buss is back home and already leaning on a project he helped bring to life to support the colleagues who rushed to his aid. His nonprofit has parked a mobile wellness trailer, complete with a wood-burning sauna and a cold plunge, outside the St. Peter Police Department so officers have a spot to decompress between shifts. In a small department still reeling, the trailer has quietly become a gathering place for recovery.
According to FOX 9, Buss was shot in the arm and chest on June 18 while chasing a suspect who opened fire with a shotgun. He has already undergone three surgeries to save his arm and now lives with a titanium rod holding the limb together. Buss told the station he keeps a token from his 4-year-old son in his pocket and added, “I am thankful, right? I shouldn’t be here, and for some reason, God kept me here.”
The mobile wellness trailer
Buss founded The Brothers In Law, which created the wellness trailer to bring contrast therapy to first responders. The unit includes a wood-burning sauna and a cold tub meant to help officers, firefighters and EMS crews reset between calls. The nonprofit’s website notes that the trailer is available at no cost to Minnesota police, fire and EMS agencies and can be requested for station visits and events, with additional information available through the group.
Community support and fundraising
FOX 9 reports that Buss and his brother raised roughly $30,000 to build the trailer, which has already made the rounds at parks across southern Minnesota before landing at the St. Peter police station. After the shooting, Buss was escorted home on June 26 by a procession of officers from across the region, an event that KEYC said drew dozens of community members who lined U.S. Highway 169 to welcome him back.
The shooting and investigation
Reports say the incident began when Mankato officers tried to stop a speeding vehicle and followed it into St. Peter, where the suspect retreated into a residence on the 2100 block of Bunker Lane. The suspect, identified in local reporting as 21-year-old Jordan Michael Donahue, was later found deceased inside the home. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is leading the investigation, according to local outlets.
Why first-responder wellness is rising
Departments and training groups across the country are adding somatic recovery options, including saunas, cold plunges and guided debriefings, to peer-support and resilience programs as part of a shift toward whole-person care for public-safety workers. Coverage of similar programs and training providers notes that contrast therapy can help regulate stress and aid recovery, as seen in reporting by Spectrum News 1 and programming from FirstResponderPsych.
For Buss, the sauna and cold plunge are practical tools for physical healing and for the tougher work of talking through trauma with people who get it. The Brothers In Law says it plans to keep offering the trailer to agencies across Minnesota so first responders have a private, down-to-earth way to recharge during difficult months.
