Surveillance video shows Annunciation shooter at gun store days before attack
Surveillance video shows the shooter in a firearm store just days before the Annunciation attack. The owner of that store tells WCCO the shooter didn't buy any of the weapons used from the shop.
Just after 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 23, days before the Annunciation attack, the shooter walked into Frontiersman Sports and spent over 40 minutes asking questions, talking to other customers, laughing and ultimately making a purchase: a used gun and one box of ammunition for the specific firearm.
"They purchased a .38 special revolver," said Kory Krause, who's the owner of Frontiersman Sports at 6925 Wayzata Blvd. "This gun was certainly not one of the guns used in the shooting."
Krause says his highly trained staff know what to look for — things like mental health instability, intoxication, signs someone could be suicidal or homicidal. He says they didn't present a single reason to bat an eye.
When WCCO asked if his staff could go back in time, what would they do differently, Krause said: "Nothing. And that's the thing. If you could rewind and make it happen again and it's another person, there would be nothing that we would pick up on whatsoever. That's what's so bizarre."
That makes the case even more distinct.
"We have a reputation for denying sales and things like that. We've ruffled a few feathers with people as a result. But unfortunately, we're here to try to do the right thing. We go above and beyond what's required of us," Krause added.
Krause says the day of the shooting, they heard from law enforcement asking if the shooter had visited the store before. That's when they searched their records and found the camera footage.
"I literally felt like I needed to take a shower after watching that," Krause told WCCO. "It was just creepy because it was so — I mean, there was nothing there that would indicate..."
He added that the shooter presented themselves as a man but marked "female" on the firearms transaction record. The store sees all walks of life, and the shooter's presentation gave no reason to discriminate.
