Disturbing details on Minneapolis shooter

We want to take you now to Minneapolis, where officials are giving an update on yesterday's fatal shooting inside a local church packed with school children. Let's listen in. I am the Minneapolis police chief. This has been a very difficult week for our community here in Minneapolis. As we continue to move along this difficult path of healing, I want the community to know that, even in the face of evil, the Minneapolis Police Department and all of our law-enforcement partners collectively stand together with you. We stand with our families that have been affected by this senseless violence, as well as with the parish community. We will continue to be here for all of you. The men and women of the Minneapolis Police Department who responded yesterday did not hesitate. At 8:27 AM, 911 began to receive initial calls of shots being fired. By 8:31, a Minneapolis police officer in a regular uniform with no helmet, no SWAT gear ran into the church and was met by a parishioner who directed him towards where the gunman had been. The parishioner later told me that was the first time that he, the children, and others there had any sense that they might be safe and survive. The members that responded yesterday exemplified the motto that is on the Minneapolis police squad cars, "to protect with courage and to serve with compassion." All of our law-enforcement partners, first responders, and many children, members of the school staff, and parishioners of Annunciation Catholic Church all showed incredible courage yesterday in the face of unspeakable horror. As the investigation continues, we will continue working alongside our county, state, and federal law-enforcement partners as we continue to be critical as we piece together exactly what happened. At this time, we have identified a total of 20 victims that had injuries resulting from gunfire, including the 8- and 10-year-old who were killed yesterday. 15 of the injured are children between the ages of 6 and 15. Three of those injured are adults in their 80s. Those who remain hospitalized need all of our support as we continue to pray for a speedy recovery for all of our victims. During the processing of the scene at Annunciation Church yesterday, three shotgun shells were recovered, along with approximately 116 rifle rounds. One live round was recovered from a handgun that appears to have malfunctioned as the shooter attempted to use it and became stuck in the chamber. There were four search warrants that were executed yesterday, one at the church. The others were executed at residences believed to be associated with the shooter. One of those residences was in the city of Minneapolis. A second one was in Richfield, and a third one was in St. Louis Park, which are both bordering municipalities. Additional evidence was recovered as a result of these warrants. Literally hundreds of pieces of evidence have been recovered thus far, which include electronic devices that will be further searched and processed. It now becomes our job collectively, with all of law enforcement, to process that evidence. And so this investigation will continue, and we will follow all of the evidence to its logical conclusion. I am aware, however, that this may not ultimately provide the answers that our public is looking for. 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, violence perpetrated against children worshipping at mass, and no investigation, no evidence will ever be able to make sense of such an unthinkable tragedy. That being said, we will do our best to determine and identify a specific motive. What we have seen so far is this is an individual who, unfortunately, like so many other mass shooters that we have seen in this country too often and around the world, had some deranged fascination with previous mass shootings and very disturbing writings that demonstrate hatred towards many different individuals and different groups of people. And he fantasized about the plans of other mass shooters. Unfortunately, again, this has become all too common in our society. That being said, we know, ultimately, the purpose of the shooter's actions was to obtain notoriety for the shooter themselves. That being said, I have only said the name of this shooter once, and I'm asking members of the media to stop saying the shooter's name. That was the whole purpose of why he did this heinous act, to obtain that notoriety for themselves. As schools in our city are beginning to start this week and next, we are working with all of our law-enforcement partners, county sheriffs, state troopers, and surrounding municipalities that are helping the city of Minneapolis as we step up police presence both in and around schools and around all of our houses of worship in the city. Many of our law-enforcement partners are also supplementing patrols, and we could not be more grateful. This has truly been a collective effort in partnership with our community. We also must say that we will be forever in debt to all of the doctors, nurses, and paramedics who responded who were caring for these victims in this incident. I cannot tell you how incredibly grateful we are for all of the love and support that has been pouring in from all around the country, both for the first responders who initially responded, entered that church, and dealt with the unthinkable, and for all of the victims and families that have received that love and support as well. The Minneapolis Police Department and our community have a long road ahead of us to heal, and we need everyone continuing to show their support after the cameras, once again, leave this city. I'd like to invite up the acting United States Attorney for the District of Minnesota, Joe Thompson. Good afternoon. My name is Joe Thompson. I'm the acting United States attorney for the District of Minnesota. Yesterday, Minnesota was attacked. It was an attack, first and foremost, on our children and our families, an attack at a school and in a place of worship. It was also an attack on our city, our state, and our country. The US attorney's office, the FBI, ATF, and other federal law enforcement are working with state and local partners to investigate this heinous act. Our investigation is twofold. First, we are seeking to confirm what we believe to be true, which is that the shooter acted alone and that no one else was involved, that the threat died with the shooter yesterday. We believe that to be true, but we'll leave no stone unturned to ensure the safety of our community. Second, we are investigating the motive, why and how this happened. The shooter left behind hundreds of pages of writings, writings that describe the shooter's plan, writings that describe the shooter's mental state, and more than anything, writings that describe the shooter's hate-- pure, indiscriminate hate. The shooter expressed hate towards almost every group imaginable. The shooter expressed hate towards Black people. The shooter expressed hate towards Mexican people. The shooter expressed hate towards Christian people. The shooter expressed hate towards Jewish people. In short, the shooter appeared to hate all of us. The shooter's heart was full of hate. There appears to be only one group that the shooter didn't hate, one group of people who the shooter admired. That group were the school shooters and mass murderers that are notorious in this country. The shooter idolized some of the most notorious school shooters and mass murderers in our country's history. I won't name them, just like I won't name the shooter. They don't deserve to have their names remembered. As I said, the shooter left behind hundreds of pages of writings. There is a lot to digest, and we'll know more in the coming days and weeks as we've had an opportunity to go through them. But reading them, one thing is clear. It's going to be hard to hear, but it's important to the question of why this happened. More than anything, the shooter wanted to kill children, defenseless children. The shooter was obsessed with the idea of killing children. The shooter saw the attack as a way to target our most vulnerable among us while they were at their most vulnerable, at school and at church. I won't dignify the shooter's words by repeating them. They are horrific and vile. But, in short, the shooter wanted to watch children suffer. Yesterday was a tragedy for the city and our state. My heart goes out to the entire Annunciation community. Their loss is unimaginable. I want the state of Minnesota to know that when a tragedy like this occurs, we all stand together. Federal, state, and local law enforcement work together side by side-- the FBI, the ATF, the BCA, Minneapolis Police Department, the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, the Hennepin County Attorney's Office, including their victim advocates who have been working with the families yesterday and today. The list goes on. This has been a tough summer for Minnesota, but I take heart knowing that we all stand together in confronting this evil. Thank you. I'll turn it back to Chief O'Hara. We'll open it up for some questions and answer what we can.

The FBI Director Kash Patel put out some details today, including that there was a threat against President Trump, that there were some messages such as Israel must fall in Palestine, and that it is being investigated as a hate crime. There's evidence of a hate crime. Can you speak to what the FBI director put out? I haven't talked to Director Patel, but certainly there's evidence of hate. As I mentioned, the shooter expressed hate towards many groups, including the Jewish community and including President Trump. So, obviously, as in most cases where there's a mass shooting at a house of worship or a school, federal law enforcement will work with state and local law enforcement to investigate to make sure we know what happened and we prosecute as appropriate. I would just add to that, Matt, that there is no question in this case that this shooter intended to terrorize the children, the members of the school community, the parishioners who were inside of that church. So whatever label we want to put on it almost is regardless of the fact that it is very clear that this shooter had the intention to terrorize those innocent children.

So one of the manifestos, I guess, mentions a belief that the shooter was under an FBI investigation. Is anyone able to say whether or not that's true or whether this person showed up on any watch list or any federal radar at all? We did a check of all of our holdings, the FBI holdings, and he was not in our holdings prior to this incident. So we didn't have anything on him at that time.

And is there any kind of mental health diagnosis that anyone is aware of? There is no diagnosis that I'm aware of that I can share. I can tell you, we are not aware of any state-ordered mental-health commitments for this individual.

Could you talk about-- we were hearing some new details come out about the moments inside the church. Yes.

--about the doors being locked. Yes.

Could you talk to us about that? So the question was about the doors being locked at the church. Annunciation Church had a practice that once mass began, they locked the doors of the church. This incident occurred shortly after the mass was beginning. So there's no question that the fact that the doors were locked likely saved additional lives. At the same time, we also know that the shooter intended to barricade and did barricade the doors on the same side of the church where the shooting occurred. So what's particularly heinous and cowardly about this is these children were slaughtered by a shooter who could not see them. He was standing outside of the building, firing through very narrow windows on the level where they would line up with the pews. And even ultimately, when he got to the rear of the church, was an entryway that's basically all glass and fired out the window where a person could walk in. Ultimately did not walk in. Yes?

When you say the doors were locked, is that from the inside or from the outside? Like you're inside and you can go out, but you can't get in from the outside? The question is about the doors being locked. Yes, the doors were locked intentionally by the church from the inside, and that's a practice that they had in place once mass had begun.

I know--

--social-media postings admiration for previous school shooters. Why was he able to obtain a weapon of that magnitude? So the question was, due to previous social-media posts, why was the individual able to obtain a weapon? We have nothing in the evidence that we have acquired so far that would indicate that he is a person-- that he did not lawfully purchase these weapons. He did not have a criminal history. The only thing that we are aware of is a traffic ticket. He did not have any state-ordered commitments for mental health. So of everything that we have seen so far, it did not rise to the level where he would have been a person prohibited from purchasing a firearm. Yes, Ubah?

--if the shooter went to the church weeks prior, and if so, how long before the shooting happened? So Ubah's question was if the shooter did go to the church weeks prior. We cannot specifically confirm that at this time, but that is, obviously, a part of the investigation.

--at all about the connection, his connection to the church and school? Yep. So the question was the connection of the shooter to the church and school. We do know that the shooter did attend mass there previously. The shooter did attend school, and the shooter's mother was an employee of the parish previously for some time. So, obviously, there is a connection between that shooter and this particular parish and this school there.

What can you tell us about--

--you mentioned that another victim. How is that child doing? So there's one additional child that was injured by gunfire that we weren't aware of at the time of the last briefing. They were transported by private vehicle to a hospital outside of the city, and the report was actually made to police after they had been treated and released. So the injuries to the children range from, in this case, I guess you'd call a graze wound from gunfire all to, again, some very serious, life-threatening injuries. We have some victims that have been released by the hospital at this time. We anticipate perhaps a few more today, but we still have some victims who are very seriously injured and in critical condition.

Even though there's no criminal record-- Sorry.

--say even though there's no criminal record, have you been able to find any police contacts where there was odd behavior, maybe that didn't rise to the level of a crime but in any jurisdiction that's come up? So the question was police contacts with odd behavior. There's nothing in Minneapolis where we did not have previous police contacts with him.

Is there anything more you can say today on the name-change issue? I know that yesterday, you didn't confirm that, but I know it's out there. Yes. So the question was about the shooter's name change. We are aware that a few years ago, I think 2019, the shooter did have their name changed. We can confirm that, yes.

I knew FBI spokesperson talked about it too. Have any law enforcement you found had contact with the shooter's family previously to what happened? I can try. For everybody, I'm Drew Evans, superintendent, Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. It depends on specifically what you're asking. We're aware of some reports in the past. We are gathering those reports now. There will be additional information that we'll be able to share down the line. But as the chief noted, and I think what is important in this and related to the question, this individual was not arrested for anything that would prohibit them from being able to purchase a firearm. There is not substantive police contact with this individual that would have raised concern to the level that would lead us to believe this sort of situation would happen today. The social media, in terms of your question for that-- just to be clear, to level set for everybody, there is a specific criteria in terms of how an individual can purchase a firearm legally in Minnesota. If those posts and information-- I'll share it for everybody that we want to know going forward. This, obviously, is a terrible tragedy. We need the help of the public and everybody else. If there's concerning social-media behavior by anybody or that there's concern in their community, that they are contacting their law enforcement so that we can adequately address that in the process. That did not happen in this case.

In terms of evidence found with the search warrants, were you able to recover additional guns, and if so, were those registered and also legally purchased? So the question was in regard to the search warrant. Were additional weapons recovered? The answer is no, only the three weapons that were recovered at the scene, a 5.56-millimeter rifle, a shotgun, and a pistol, and all three were used during this incident.

Chief, any history of gun training? Because the shooter seemed fairly accurate. We're not aware of, at this time, any history of gun training.

In the evidence that you have recovered, has the shooter expressed any grievance against that particular church? So the question was any specific grievance against the church. We mentioned there is a connection to the parish, a connection to the school, but we have not identified a triggering event or a specific grievance against the church that you could point to to say, this is the reason for why this happened.

Chief, I just want to clarify something you said. You said that the shooter attended mass in the weeks before the shooting. I did not say that. So the question was, did the shooter attend mass in the weeks before? We know that, previously, the shooter had attended that parish and had attended that school when they were younger.

Is there anything in any evidence that this person was radicalized or part of some online groups or anything like that that would have inspired this behavior? So the question was if the individual was radicalized, I guess, for a specific cause or a part of some online groups, and the answer is no. We have not found evidence of that other than, again, just this fascination in general with many, many different previous mass shootings, mainly in this country but also some from around the world.

Chief, any evidence to indicate why this particular church, just to kind of follow up on what others asked, why this particular church was chosen as the target? So Matt's question is the question. Why this particular church? And other than the obvious, which we have said, the connection to being from that church, being from that school, mom having worked there, we have not found a specific trigger for why to target the children at this church.

On that note, though, did the shooter seem aware that there was going to be this mass at this time, that the kids would be there at that time, other than the obvious that they showed up and shot? Yeah. So the question was, was the shooter aware of this mass at this church? The answer would be yes. This was a daily mass, but this was special in that the children were attending to celebrate the first week of school, the beginning of a new school year.

Chief, are you able to give us an update-- I know we heard this from HCMC this morning on the injuries. Who is hospitalized, how many, the severity? And you did mention that you expect some other cases to be released. So the question was total number of victims who remain hospitalized. I do not have information. That would have to come specifically from the individual hospitals. Again, I know that some victims have been released, and I believe HCMC mentioned at their press conference earlier that they anticipate a couple more may be released today. But I know, both at HCMC as well as Children's Hospital, that there remain patients who are in critical condition.

Chief, you've had more than 24 hours to kind of absorb this and kind of process this. Your thoughts on-- So the question was over the last 24 hours for my thoughts on where we are and moving forward. I think we had dozens of police officers that responded, that entered there. I shared a story that one parishioner had shared with me of the relief they had seeing an officer running in towards the danger. And I know from dozens of officers who did respond that ran into the church and saw the unthinkable with all of these children so seriously injured and other children that had blood on them, not because they were injured but because of blood that was shared from other kids, and just how confusing it was for the officers because no one knew if there was specifically just one shooter, if there were perhaps improvised devices that were there to go off. So I think the officers that were then joined by state troopers and county sheriff's deputies and all of federal law enforcement officers and others that responded very, very quickly and I just think did an incredible job at trying to ensure that the threat was eliminated, there were no additional threats, but also trying to triage as quickly as possible and get the injured to the hospital. And I think EMS, all the first responders did an amazing job. And I think going forward, we're going to learn countless stories about many children and the heroic acts that children there did, as well as staff members and other parishioners. So I know this is incredibly horrific and just an unthinkable situation. But despite all of that, I think there's just-- there's going to be countless lessons of bravery, from young children all the way up to elders in our community.

All right, we'll take one more, perhaps from somebody who has not yet had a chance.

Chief, have you spoken--

Is that you?

I think I have a good-- yeah. Have you guys spoken with the shooter's parents, and have they said anything about past mental health history? And do you guys, as law enforcement, believe there might have been any red flags that might have been missed? So the question was, have we spoken to the shooter's parents and if there were any red flags that may have been missed? I know there were dozens of interviews that have been conducted with relatives, friends, associates of the shooter, as well as people-- obviously, individuals, witnesses that were present at the scene yesterday. I know we have not been successful in talking to the shooter's mother yet at this time, but there continue to be efforts made to get that done.

So you have talked to the father? I cannot confirm that. I don't know. There's been-- We have. You have? OK.

Did he live alone, or did he live with his father? Well, the question was, did he live alone or live with his father? There's three residences that are associated with this individual. I can't verify right now which residence he was staying at immediately prior to the shooting, but that's, obviously, something that will come out with the investigation as it continues.

Just out of curiosity, what was your question?

How long had the shooter attended the school for? I don't know. Yeah. The question was how long did the shooter attend. We don't know. OK. I don't know the period of time, exactly.

Is there surveillance video available? Not that we want to see it but that you can review to know how long he was shooting and how he snuck up? So the question was, is there surveillance video? And the answer is yes. There's surveillance video at the church. That's how we know for sure he did not enter and did not fire at all from inside the church.

And do you know how long the shooting took place? We will know that for sure. The question was, how long did the shooting take place? So the first call to 911 was--

I just mean the shots being fired for how many seconds or minutes. Yes. We will be able to figure that out. We will be able to pinpoint that.

Thanks so much for your time today. We are quite hot. Thank you, chief. We've got a lot more yet to get done today. So I appreciate again your partnership in helping us get these messages out. Thank you. You've been watching officials give an update on the deadly shooting at a church filled with school children in Minneapolis. Anna Schecter has been listening to this briefing with me. We do know that Police Chief O'Hara, he updated the number of victims to 20. Those include the 8- and 10-year-old who were killed. The injuries range from graze wounds all the way to various serious, life-threatening injuries. Some more people have been released from the hospital today, but there are still some that they are asking for intense prayers. Anna, when you were listening to that with me, we know that search warrants were issued. They searched the church and three different residences. What stood out to you? Well, with respect to the residences, they don't even know which home the shooter was staying at immediately prior to the attack. I think there are going to be a lot of questions about whether he was staying with a parent. Do we know if the parent was aware of those weapons, if they were living in the residence together? So, to me, this opens a very serious line of questioning there. The other thing that jumped out to me is just how many rounds from the rifle. We learned 116 rifle rounds were recovered from the scene. Three shotgun shells were recovered and one live round from the handgun that Chief O'Hara just said they believe malfunctioned and got stuck in the chamber. The shooter was attempting to use that handgun as well. So all of that is new information. We also got a little bit of an update, which my sources had already told me about that timeline. But 8:27 AM, the 911 call, first 911 call came in. And in four minutes, that first police officer was running inside the church. They had mentioned-- and we were discussing as we were listening to it-- that the shooter barricaded the entrance from that side. But the church's protocol was to lock the doors after mass began, and we heard from Chief O'Hara say it probably saved a lot of lives. At 8:31 when the first police officer arrived and ran into that church, I am curious to hear, how did he get in if the doors were locked? Were locked, yeah, and we did not get that answer today. No, but we did also hear from the US attorney that he was saying that the investigation is twofold and something that you had pointed out earlier that you wanted to find out. Did the shooter act alone? At this point, it seems as if they believe the shooter acted alone, so the threat died yesterday. And then the second part is a motive, how and why. Your reporting has pointed out that the shooter's mother used to work at the church. The shooter attended the church and the school. That may be the connection, but we still don't have that, why target that church? That's right, and Chief O'Hara said it was sort of like, pick your cause. There was hateful language towards Black people, Mexican people, Jewish people--

Christian people. --Christian people. The only group that this person was not antagonistic against was the notorious crew of mass shooters and school shooters that this individual idolized and looked up to and glorified, and that was coming, actually, from the acting US attorney. We might wonder, why is a prosecutor here if the shooter is deceased? Well, they want to make sure no stone is left unturned for the safety of the community. Anna, any idea of when the shooter started developing this manifesto and all the papers and everything that they have gone through? Well, we know that the shooter visited-- from our reporting, visited the church a few weeks prior to the attack. Our understanding is that very detailed drawing of inside the church was part of a plan-- part of the planning to carry out this attack. So that would have happened in the weeks prior to the attack. And that drawing was found amongst the other writings glorifying violence against children. So my understanding, those writings are from the months leading up to this attack.

All right, Anna Schecter, thank you so much.