Minneapolis community mourns children

Police say the shooter died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, and appeared to act alone. Authorities are now trying to understand what drove the shooter to target children. When something terrible happens, the public expects law enforcement to provide some explanation for what happened. But the reality is this is an unthinkable, completely senseless act.

The shooting disrupted a mass marking the beginning of the school year. Earlier, CBS EveningNews co-anchor Maurice DuBois asked the archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis what message he would share with his community. What do you tell the larger public, the larger populace looking in at with rage with fear, with frustration, helplessness? What do you tell people? I think that that's all appropriate. There had been a shooting just the day before at one of our other schools, and fortunately, there were no students that were involved. But it can't just become part of our everyday life. We can't ever take this as the norm. We have to do something.

At least one child, a 12-year-old girl, remains in critical condition. CBS News correspondent Lana Zak is on the ground for us in Minneapolis with more. Lana. Hello. We continue to follow all the latest details coming to you from Minneapolis, including how various members of the community are dealing with this. I was just speaking with Father Sas, who's parishioner, Sophia Forchas, is that 12-year-old girl, a seventh grader who is in critical condition at Hennepin still. And he described to me what it was like to be with her family, the emotion that it takes to deal with this. And the feeling that everyone here is carrying as we are awaiting additional details, not only about the motive, as the investigation. But really about these victims, particularly these young victims. Nine of them still remain in care at Hennepin. One is in critical condition. Another was discharged earlier today. Hennepin officials tell me that they hope that they will be able to discharge yet another. They're also learning more about the horrific writings of this shooter and the shooter's desire for notoriety. And the number of groups that this person hated. And there is a shift now to want to hear less about that hate, and more about what actions can be taken to try and prevent these types of tragedies from happening. Certainly, we are hearing from community members who are angry, who feel like they are scared for their own children and want more to be done. We heard that from Governor Walz yesterday. And that has only amplified in the time period that I've been here talking to people. So we continue to monitor that. There will be more vigils, more prayers tonight, and we'll be watching all of that. I'll send it back to you.

Lana Zak, thank you. Anna Schecter joins me now. She's the senior coordinating producer for CBS News crime and Public Safety Unit. Anna, thanks for being here. They released new details about how the shooting unfolded. What's the latest? Sure. We got an exact timeline of the first 911 call that came in at 8:27 AM yesterday morning. Within four minutes, the first police officer was able to come in. Now, remember, those doors were locked. The way the police officer could enter is because children were fleeing once the gunshots started. So it all unfolded very quickly within four minutes. We also learned that 116 rifle rounds were recovered from the scene. It's very chilling to hear that. Three shotgun shells were recovered. And one live round from the handgun had been jammed in the gun. The shooter had tried to use that weapon as well. We learned a lot today from the press conference. Four search warrants were executed already. They're still trying to figure out exactly where the shooter was residing immediately prior to the attack. And then our own reporting, we learned earlier today that the shooter had essentially surveilled the church several weeks ago when the shooter went and actually encountered a staff member of the church and talked to that staff member about struggling with faith. And giving the impression that this individual wanted to renew their faith. But investigators now believe that was a ruse to see exactly how to get in and how this person could cause as much damage as possible.

We know the shooter's parents have been interviewed, waiting to hear more information about that. And very curious to find out if the shooter was living with somebody. Because again, as you mentioned, those search warrants for three different residences. So a lot to uncover there still. Meanwhile, you spoke with an expert on gun violence prevention about Minnesota's red flag law. What did you learn there? Well, this is really interesting. And Lana Zak just alluded to it. There is a law on the books that essentially allows a family member or a roommate, or even local police or a county lawyer to get a petition from a judge to have weapons removed from a person for a period of time. So people can do this. Yes, you've got to go and take that step, but you can do this. And so what this expert, Lisa Geller at the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions told me is, we need to have a PSA about these red flag laws. Because 21 states do have them. And she talked to me about the hundreds of times that lives were likely saved. But let's take a listen to what she had to say. How could the Minnesota red flag law been used to catch this individual? We know that anytime an individual is exhibiting warning signs saying they're going to commit a shooting or kill themselves, that there's an opportunity to intervene and to initiate this order and have their firearms and access to firearms temporarily restricted. Does this seem like a missed opportunity here to use this law? I can never say for sure that it had been used, this shooting wouldn't have happened. But what I can say in reviewing thousands of these ERPO, or red flag, petitions from around the country, these are the circumstances and instances in which we are seeing red flag laws being used to save lives. So she's pretty optimistic, actually. And her message is, let's get the word out that people can use these red flag laws. Like you said, a PSA is probably needed in this instance. Anna Schecter, thank you so much.