BCA update on Minneapolis mass shooting: Full news conference

Well good afternoon everybody. Thank you for joining us this afternoon to talk about a tragedy that occurred in the city of Minneapolis yesterday afternoon. My name is Drew Evans and I'm the superintendent here at the BCA. Behind me are a number of our team that are working to actively investigate this incident. I want to first extend my condolences to the family and friends and loved ones of the people that were impacted yesterday in the horrific shooting incident that I've referenced. To their families and loved ones, the entire Minneapolis community, we want you to know that we're thinking of you and stand along with you. Along with that to the Minneapolis Police Department, for the officers that bravely ran towards gunfire who were injured in the line of duty yesterday as well, that they are working to recover from that as they responded to keep the residents in that building safe. At the request of the Minneapolis Police Department, the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension has now taken over the entirety of the investigation of the incident. And what that means for anybody that's not familiar is our force investigations unit is investigating the officer involved shooting portion of this incident and then our BCA homicide investigations unit is looking at the events that led up to this shooting that occurred and the pieces that are surrounding that at this time. What we want to update you on what we've learned so far, I just also want to caution everybody that it's still very preliminary and there's a lot that went on yesterday that will take us some time to investigate and we'll do our best to provide you information as we're able. First, I want to give you a little bit of information on those people that were killed or injured yesterday during the incident what led up to this. The suspect in this incident is believed to be 35-year-old Carlton Neal Johnson. However, we're still awaiting confirmation on his true identity from the medical examiner's office, but it's been widely reported and so we want to acknowledge that's what we're working from at this point in time. The autopsy is currently underway and we don't know the exact cause and manner of death that we will work with the medical examiner on, but we believe that he died in an exchange of gunfire with the Minneapolis police officers. Two of the victims died of their injuries, a 63-year-old male and a 61-year-old male. Both were believed to be residents of the Shoreline Plaza Apartments. We're still awaiting an official identification of these individuals and notification to their next of kin and so we will provide updated information when we're able to officially identify those individuals for all of you. Building surveillance cameras captured the entirety of this incident which occurred both indoors and outdoors at the building. Our agents are currently in the process of reviewing video and detail to gain a full understanding of the incident. The first shooting occurred outside of the building during a custody exchange of a child believed to belong to the suspect in this case with a woman that he had a prior relationship with. She was shot outside of the building and as he then entered the building he shot somebody that works at the building at close range and then as he entered the building shot another worker of the facility at that time. We have no indication that he was targeting them specifically at that time but that will be part of our active investigation as well to determine if there's any additional information that'll lead us to understand why he shot the two people as he encountered. He then took an elevator up to the ninth floor which is where he has an apartment in this building and that's where he shot and killed two people that reference that had died as a result of their injuries that are believed both to be residents of the building. Again we cannot say for sure that he was targeting them specifically in that incident we have no information to believe that as we're opposed to just encountering them in the building but that'll continue to be part of our investigation as we analyze that video and do follow-up investigation. Once law enforcement arrived on the scene which was very quickly after the call was aired out they heard gunfire and followed the sound of the gunshots up to the ninth floor using the stairway. That is where they encountered the suspect and there was an exchange of gunfire at that time. The suspect died and two officers were shot and injured. A third officer was injured unrelated to the exchange of gunfire. All three of the injured victims out the woman outside and the two shot on the first floor of the complex are being treated in by medical facilities and we don't have a status of them at this time but know that Minneapolis plans to hold another press conference and may have updated information or we will provide you updated information as we're able to learn of it and the status of the victims in this case. The officers that were involved in this incident and there were two, I'll back up, there were two exchanges of gunfire from our preliminary investigation with the suspect on that ninth floor. The officers that were injured and fired their weapons are all from the Minneapolis Police Department. The first is Joseph Michinowski who was shot in the stomach that you referenced. We are still determining whether or not he fired his weapon. He was obviously being treated and we have been able to talk to him at this time or receive more information. He's been with the Minneapolis Police Department for approximately five years. Yahya Ahmed was shot in the leg and he's a Minneapolis Police Department police officer who fired his weapon in the exchange and has been with the Minneapolis Police Department for approximately one and a half years. Liban Muhammad Ibrahim was not injured but did we believe fire his weapon and has been with the police department for approximately two years. And a third injured unrelated to the officer involved shooting portion of this in the exchange of gunfire officer was injured but we're not releasing their name at this time. And so the process from here going forward is to really do a complete investigation into the incident that led up to the actual shooting incident that occurred from there. Please know that again this is all preliminary information. We'll be working to gather additional details, reviewing all of that video, working to understand from the point of view of the officers that were involved in this what occurred and then gathering all the relevant documents and information to really understand what occurred leading up to this. And with that I'd be happy to take some questions about this. So the question is what do we know about the weapon? So we wouldn't say anything about any modifications to a particular weapon until it's analyzed by our laboratory and that has been collected by our crime scene team that processed the scene all night long and we will analyze that in our laboratory. The weapon that was used by the subject in this case though was a handgun. So we're working through a couple things. The question is about how do the officers get to the to the ninth floor and how did that they ran up the stairwell the majority of them in this process and they as they were following the sound of gunfire and the exchange that occurred in the hallway was they encountered the subject who exchanged gunfire with police at that time. We're still analyzing specifics but it's clear to us on the front end that the subject appeared to fire his weapon at police officers at that time. The haze is something that I think we're still working through. There was both an exchange of gunfire including a rifle by the officer also I think some substance we believe some some pipes or other implements in the area were struck by gunfire that created some of that in that process. So the question was about can we say anything more about the exchange of the child and you know that is still something that's under our active investigation. I don't have a lot more to share about that now. It appeared it was an arranged exchange of custody at that point in time but we will be looking more into details about what that is. I'm aware of some of the reporting around some of the custody status of the child and that's all stuff that we're going to need some time to dig into a little bit. The question was how was he allowed to have a gun when he was flagged for an extreme risk protection order. I don't have information about an extreme risk protection order at this time. Certainly that's something that we'll be looking at in there. I'm aware of some court filings regarding some of the information about the individual. All of that will be unpacked. It is too early this just happened yesterday to understand the sequence of events. When it comes to court filings, response, anything related to that but that will all be part of our investigation. We'll be looking into it. The question was about was the child there at the time and how did that work and how gravely was the mother injured. The mother was shot in the leg. The child was able to escape. The child wasn't taken with him. They were able to escape with people in the area and the child is unharmed other than the obvious trauma being in the middle of a shooting. Yeah so that question was the extent of the state. The state was not involved with him in particular with that and then a question about a permit to carry. It is our understanding that he did have a valid permit to carry at the time of this shooting occurred and we'll be looking into all of that. What information may have been shared with the people that issue those in the process and some of that still needs to be done because it's not clear. There were multiple different entities. I think it goes back to the question about what was known and that we're going to have to understand because there were different lanes and different people that were encountered with some of them. The question is whether or not we know who fired first. That's part of what our active investigation. We'll figure that out and get more specifics as we go. Yeah so that the question was about to confirm that they were employees of the building. That is accurate. The people that he encountered in the in the first floor before he went to the ninth floor are employees of the building. Both of them were shot. One male I don't know the entire extent of his injuries but it's my understanding are less serious. There was a female that was shot that suffered serious critical injuries and is still status will be something that will need to be released and monitored day to day. What extent do we know his eviction process? What role did that play? The question was what was the relationship with the residents that were shot and what is the eviction how did that play? That will all be part of our investigation. We know the residents that were shot and killed on the ninth floor. The exact relationship he had with any of them and whether or not they were a part of some of the information that was leading up to the eviction process that was underway by the building is something that we will unpack and I don't have specifics right now. The woman shot outside? Yes. I don't know if there were any active restraining orders or active court orders at this point in time. We're still working through some of that. There were some previous orders and I don't know who the exact subjects of them were. The question was was the police department notified about the shooting? That's still all part of what we're working through. I think as you saw Chief Peterson note yesterday this individual was known to them as the police department. The exact nature and all of the calls we have some of that information but that's still part of our active investigation that we're gathering. Yeah the exchange of gunfire with the law enforcement and the individual it would have in a hallway on the ninth floor and I don't have a specific but not not very far so it would have been a very it happened very fast in that process and they worked to calm the situation. And as I will just say and I'm still happy to answer some questions the I want to just provide a couple of the medical examiner has approved our release of the victims that were killed in this situation and they are Dale Henry Spry who is a 63 years old and then Muse Afra who is 61 year old and we'll get the proper spelling to all of you when we conclude at a later time so please. The question was about confirming that the beginning of this that we said that we believe the subject was shot and killed by police officers. We believe that to be the case. We don't comment on you know the officers and their responses an objective fact-finding agency and this certainly the amount of time that it took to respond and encounter the subject was a short period of time in the response. You know what I do want to know for everybody as we look at this is that this is once again a situation where domestic violence is center and central to a really terrible situation with multiple people shot and the role that domestic violence continues to play in mass casualty incidents and other situations where people are shot and killed continues to be a problem that we need to continue to encounter and figure out as a society because we have multiple people shot here in a situation where domestic violence led up to this point. The question was is it was the shooter's child and we believe it to be the shooter's child. It's a good question about concerning behavior from the individual would anybody be notified. I'm going to have to defer you to the county and the building in this particular instance. I don't have the specifics on any of that. Yeah questions about what can tell the residents of the building certainly sorry that you had to be involved in an incident such as this. We certainly through the department of public safety our victim witness coordinators can and be in contact with them to look at services. We have the office of justice programs in the department of public safety along with connections with the city of Minneapolis to see if there are support or services that we can provide to them moving forward but certainly traumatic incident for all of them. Question is how did this happen and that's exactly what we're here to do to figure out. We don't know all that yet and you raise a point about some of the information. I've seen some of the reporting some of that that we have gathered ourselves. I think that with any investigation our job is to be the objective fact finder to present that and if there are improvements to systems policies that need to be done that can be informed from this investigation moving forward but that's not our role. The question was about are there delays did that play a factor in the eviction notice and I do not know enough about that to really be able to provide that. We're aware of the court proceedings in the timeline but we don't know much more about that. That'll be part of the investigation maybe. Say that again I'm sorry yeah so the question was about were all the officers together so a lot of officers are responding certainly there were officers together when they encountered them there were two different encounters but all in the same instance so there were a lot of law enforcement it'd be difficult I don't want to mislead on this that who was there what but they were they were together when when the first exchange the some of the officers on scene but more were responding throughout the incident and I just want to say one more like and again this shows the fast-moving nature this the medical examiner has to confirm that question that he died as a result of the exchange of gunfire with law enforcement so on that particular one. Police it was shot by police I know there's been reporting on suicide that's why I would encourage people not to to listen to sources that may not have the information. The question about would he shoot into police cars I have no information about that at this time. The question is about the workload and where it is I mean the people behind me are incredibly dedicated to the work and keeping Minnesotans safe each and every day and the work that they do and so I'm incredibly proud of this team that pushes through Minnesota has had a number of incidents that are high profile what makes this unique is obviously a large number of victims and people that were traumatized those victims and the people that were impacted and the people in that building are what drive our team each and every day to work to make Minnesota a safer place to be and to bring justice where they can for those people that are impacted. The question was about the encounter on the first floor what does that look like that's part of the investigation I don't know that we have specifics we need to interview everybody still but they were there around that and it happened very quickly after the first shooting occurred. Thank you for the question it was about a crash related involving police officers I'm going to refer you back to the Minneapolis Police Department that is outside the scope of our investigation so we're aware of it but I don't have specifics on the updated condition of the officers or anything about that crash. The question is were there any meetings certainly as an eviction process I would assume but I don't know we'll figure all that out as we move through the investigation maybe two more. The question is the lack of staffing you know the Minneapolis Police Department continues every day as you've heard from them to get their staffing back up to levels that they want to see so they can properly respond to everything in the city it said as beginning the response to the actual shooting itself was very quick and was a fast response certainly within what we would expect for critical incident response we won't be looking at staffing we will provide all of our information obviously the police department and anybody else in this process when it's the proper time after the county attorney has reviewed and they will make their own assessment. Yeah so sorry I just had to ask the team here quick so the question was did we believe he's living alone and if they wanted to confirm we believe he was living alone so I think that's what we have here I know there's a lot of interest in this and I greatly appreciate that we will release information and confirm some of this in writing as we're able to along the way in this case so thank you for your attention today and we appreciate your time. You've been listening live to a press conference with Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans updating the public on a shooting that took place at an apartment complex in Minneapolis yesterday that left two people plus the shooter dead plus six others injured including three police officers if you've been watching us on Fox Local we're going to take a quick break and continue this coverage after the break if you've been watching us through Fox we're going to return you now to your regularly scheduled programming.