This has been uh 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 a.m., 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 Annunc 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 from gunfire, including
the eight and 10year-old who were killed
yesterday.
15 of the injured are children between
the ages of six 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
worshiping at mass. and no
investigation, no evidence will be 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
ind 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
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 to
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 unmanageable. 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.
The 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 murders 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 shooters words by repeating them.
They are horrific and vile, but in
short, the shooter wanted to watch
children suffer.
Yesterday was a tragedy for this city
and our state. My heart goes out to the
entire enunciation community. Their loss
is unimageable.
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
Henman County Sheriff's Office, the Hen
Henne 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.
>> A little bit up for uh some questions
and answer what we can. Uh the FBI
director Cash Patel put out some details
today uh including that there was a
threat against President Trump that
there were some messages such as Israel
must fall in 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 out?
>> I haven't talked to Director Patel but
certainly there's evidence of hate. As I
mentioned, the shooter expressed hates
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 will work with state,
local law enforcement to investigate to
make sure what happened. We know what
happened and we prosecute as
appropriate.
I would just add to that, Matt, um that
there is no question in this case that
this shooter intended to terrorize the
children, the school school members of
the school community, the parishioners
were inside of that church. So, whatever
label we we want to put on it uh is is
almost is regardless of the fact that is
it is very clear that this shooter had
the intention to terrorize those
innocent children.
>> Sorry. One of the manifestos, I guess,
mentions a belief that the shooter was
under an FBI investigation.
Um, are 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?
>> Yeah, we did a check of uh all of our
holdings of the FBI holdings, and he was
not in our holdings prior to this
incident. So, we didn't have anything on
him at at that time.
>> Okay. 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. Um I can tell you we
are not aware of any state ordered uh
mental health commitments for this
individual.
>> Could you talk about we're hearing some
new details come out about the moments
inside the church?
>> Yes.
>> About the doors being locked
>> protecting some kids. Could you talk to
us about that?
So the the the question was about the
doors being locked at the church. Uh
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
um 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 uh 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 uh
basically all glass and fired out the
window where a person could walk in,
ultimately did not walk in.
>> Can you believe the doors were locked?
Is that 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.
>> 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.
>> His uh social media postings, troubling
post uh
admiration for previous uh school
shooters, why was he able to take 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? Um,
we have nothing in the evidence that we
have acquired so far that would indicate
that he is a person uh 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 uh 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. Can you confirm if the shooter went
to the church weeks prior and if so, how
long before the shooting happened?
>> Um, so Uba's question was if the shooter
uh did go to the church weeks prior. Uh,
we we cannot specifically confirm that
at this time, but that is obviously a
part of the investigation.
>> Given the question 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 uh 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 this school there.
>> Chief, what can you tell us about the
20th victim that you you mentioned,
another victim you mentioned today? 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 uh range from in this case
uh as you'd call like a graze wound from
uh gunfire all to again some very
serious uh life-threatening injuries. Uh
we have we have some victims that have
been released uh by the hospital at this
time. We we anticipate uh perhaps a few
more today, but we still have uh some
victims who are very seriously injured
and in critical condition.