Chief O'Hara (00:00):
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'll 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.
(01:19)
During the processing at the scene at Annunciation Church yesterday, 3 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, the 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.
(02:35)
I'm 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 worshiping 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.
(03:17)
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.
(03:55)
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.
(04:58)
We also must say that we will be forever in debt to all of the doctors, nurses, and paramedics who responded, who are 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 to continue 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.
Joe Thompson (05:59):
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 U.S. 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 will leave no stone unturned to ensure the safety of our community.
(06:55)
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 manageable. 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.
(07:49)
There appears to be only one group that the shooter didn't hate, one group of people who the shooter admired. The 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.
(09:08)
I won't dignify the shooter's words by repeating them. They're 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 unmanageable. 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. I take heart knowing that we all stand together in confronting this evil. Thank you. I'll turn it back to Chief O'Hara.
Chief O'Hara (10:15):
I'll open up for some questions and answer what we can.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
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 and free Palestine, and that it is being investigated as a hate crime and there's evidence of a hate crime. Can you speak to what the FBI Director put up?
Joe Thompson (10:41):
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 the house of worship or a school, law enforcement will work with state and local law enforcement to investigate to make sure what happened. We know what happened and we prosecute as appropriate.
Chief O'Hara (11:08):
I would just add to that, that there is no question in this case that this shooter intended to terrorize children, members of the school community, the parishioners were inside of that church. So whatever label we want to put on it, it almost is regardless of the fact that it's very clear that this shooter had the intention to terrorize those innocent children. Sir?
Speaker 4 (11:34):
One of the manifestos, I guess mentions I believe 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?
Speaker 5 (11:50):
Yeah, 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.
Speaker 4 (12:02):
Okay, and is there any kind of mental health diagnosis that anyone is aware of?
Chief O'Hara (12:08):
There's 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 recently.
Speaker 6 (12:17):
Chief, could you talk about, we're hearing some new details come out about the moments inside the church?
Chief O'Hara (12:20):
Yes.
Speaker 6 (12:23):
About the doors being locked-
Chief O'Hara (12:24):
Yes.
Speaker 6 (12:25):
… Might have protected some kids. Could you talk us about that?
Chief O'Hara (12:28):
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 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 church windows on the level where they would line up with the pews. And even ultimately when he got to the rear of the church, there's an entryway that's basically all glass and fired out the window where a person could walk in ultimately did not walk in.
Speaker 7 (13:39):
[inaudible 00:13:39] from the inside or from the outside? Like you're inside and you can get out, but you can't get in from the outside?
Chief O'Hara (13:44):
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.
Speaker 7 (13:53):
I know-
Speaker 8 (13:55):
… His social media postings, troubling post, admiration for previous school shooters. Why was he able to obtain a weapon of that magnitude?
Chief O'Hara (14:07):
So the question was due to previous social media posts, why was the individual able to obtain a weapon?
Speaker 8 (14:14):
Yeah.
Chief O'Hara (14:15):
We have nothing in the evidence that we have acquired so far that would indicate that he's 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've been a person prohibited from purchasing a firearm.
Uba (14:42):
Can you confirm if the shooter went to the church weeks prior? And if so, how long before the shooting happened?
Chief O'Hara (14:53):
So Uba'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.
Speaker 10 (15:07):
[inaudible 00:15:07], his connection to the church and school?
Chief O'Hara (15:09):
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.
Speaker 11 (15:33):
Chief, what can you tell us about the 20th victim that you mentioned, another victim you mentioned today. How is that child doing?
Chief O'Hara (15:39):
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 as 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.
Speaker 11 (16:26):
Even though there's no criminal record-
Speaker 7 (16:28):
… Warrants.
Speaker 11 (16:30):
… 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?
Chief O'Hara (16:41):
So the question was police contacts with odd behavior. There's nothing in Minneapolis where we did not have previous police contacts with him.
Speaker 12 (16:50):
Is there any 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. Is there any more you can reveal just about-
Chief O'Hara (16:59):
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.
Speaker 13 (17:11):
I know Luke kind of asked it and the FBI spokesperson talked about it too. Had any law enforcement you found made contact with that shooter's family previously to what happened yesterday?
Drew Evans (17:23):
I can try. For everybody, I'm Drew Evans, Superintendent of 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 line, but as the Chief noted, and we 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've raised concern to the level that would lead us to believe this situation would happen today.
(17:57)
The social media, in terms of your question for that, just to be clear, the level set for everybody, there's 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're contacting their law enforcement so that we can adequately address that in the process. That did not happen in this case.
Speaker 13 (18:28):
So the video of-
Speaker 7 (18:30):
… Evidence found with the search warrants, were you able to recover additional guns? And if so, were those registered and also legally purchased?
Chief O'Hara (18:37):
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 556 millimeter rifle, a shotgun and a pistol, and all three were used during this incident.
Speaker 15 (18:53):
Chief, any history of gun training? Because the shooter seemed fairly accurate.
Chief O'Hara (18:59):
We are not aware of at this time any history of gun training.
Speaker 16 (19:03):
In the evidence that you have recovered, has the shooter expressed any grievance against that particular church?
Chief O'Hara (19:12):
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 say this is the reason for why this happened.
Speaker 17 (19:30):
Chief, I just want to clarify something you said. Did you say that the shooter attended mass in weeks before the shooting?
Chief O'Hara (19:37):
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.
Speaker 4 (19:49):
Is there any evidence that this person was radicalized or part of some online groups or anything like that that would've inspired this behavior?
Chief O'Hara (20:00):
Yeah, 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.
Speaker 11 (20:19):
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 and not somewhere else?
Chief O'Hara (20:28):
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 of this church.
Speaker 11 (20:45):
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?
Chief O'Hara (20:56):
So the question 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 the new school year.
Speaker 11 (21:11):
Chief, are you able to give us an update? I know we heard this from HCMC this morning on the injuries, who's hospitalized, how many, severity, and you did mention that you expect some of the kids to be released today.
Chief O'Hara (21:23):
So the question was a 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.
Speaker 10 (21:53):
You've had more than 24 hours to kind of absorb this and kind process this. More thoughts on this as we're moving forward, where we are right now?
Chief O'Hara (22:02):
So the question was over the last 24 hours from my thoughts on where we are and moving forward, I think with dozens of police officers that responded, that entered there, I shared a story that one person 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.
(22:57)
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 heroic acts that children there did as well as staff members and other parishioners. So I know this is incredibly horrific and just unthinkable situation, but despite all of that, I think there's going to be countless lessons of bravery from young children all the way up to elders in our community.
Speaker 18 (23:58):
All right, we'll take one more perhaps from somebody who's not yet had a chance.
Speaker 7 (24:00):
Chief, have you spoken-
Uba (24:05):
[inaudible 00:24:06]. Go ahead.
Speaker 7 (24:06):
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've been any red flags that might've been missed?
Chief O'Hara (24:21):
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.
Speaker 7 (24:49):
But you have talked to the father?
Chief O'Hara (24:53):
I cannot confirm that. I just-
Speaker 5 (24:56):
We have.
Chief O'Hara (24:56):
You have?
Speaker 12 (24:58):
Did he live alone or did he live with his father?
Chief O'Hara (25:02):
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.
Speaker 8 (25:23):
Out of curiosity, what was your question?
Speaker 7 (25:26):
Can you say how long the shooter attended the school for? What grades?
Chief O'Hara (25:31):
So the question was how long did the shooter attend? Okay. I don't know the period of time exactly.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
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 and stuff like that?
Chief O'Hara (25:48):
So the question was, is there a surveillance video? And the answer is yes. The 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.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
And do you know how long the shooting took place?
Chief O'Hara (26:03):
We will know that for sure. The question was how long did the shooting take place? So the first call to 911 was-
Speaker 3 (26:09):
Or I just mean like the shots being fired for how many seconds per minutes?
Chief O'Hara (26:13):
Yes. We will be able to figure that out. We'll be able-
Speaker 18 (26:16):
Thanks so much for your time today. We're quite hot 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.
Uba (26:29):
In the interest of not saying the shooter's name, do you have guidance on pronouns given any change?
Speaker 18 (26:37):
I would leave that up to each agency that has speak about it. [inaudible 00:26:40].
Speaker 10 (26:39):
Are you anticipating any other updates today?