Police Chief

During the mass protest,

A gunman approached on the outside on the side of the building and began firing a rifle through the church windows towards the children sitting in the pews at the Mass.

Shooting through the windows, he struck children and worshipers that were inside the building.

The shooter was armed with a rifle, a shotgun, and a pistol.

This was a deliberate act of violence.

against innocent children and other people worshiping.

The sheer cruelty and cowardice of firing into a church full of children is absolutely incomprehensible.

Police officers from the Minneapolis Police Department immediately responded, entered the church and attempted to provide first aid and rescue some of the children that were hiding throughout the building.

while other first responders came and EMS responded to rush victims to nearby hospitals.

Two young children ages eight and 10 were killed where they sat in the pews.

Their parents have been notified.

17 other people were injured, 14 of them being children.

Two of those children are in critical condition.

The coward who fired these shots ultimately took his own life in the rear of the church.

As far as the weapons, there were three on the scene here.

They were lawfully purchased.

He had a permit to purchase that was issued in Minnesota recently.

I don't have information about where specifically those weapons were purchased, but they were purchased lawfully.

He lit that fire knowing he could very well die. He'd been locked in that room for 20 years. And for 20 years, you've been trying to get out of that room.

He lit that fire knowing he could very well die. He'd been locked in that room for 20 years. And for 20 years, you've been trying to get out of that room.