Minneapolis Shooting - The Latest

NBC News Radio National Correspondent Rory O'Neill joins us with the latest after a mass shooting at a Catholic school in Minneapolis. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let's get to the latest and talk in a little
longer form from what we know. Part of the problem
when some awful thing like this happens is that everybody
wants to know everything immediately, and that's just not possible.
There are investigations underway. Nbcniors Radio national correspondent Rory O'Neill
with us on the latest following that deadly Minneapolis church shooting.

(00:21):
What more do we know this morning.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Rory, Good morning, Steve. And by the way, don't assume
we're ever going to get all the answers here either.
And that's also the frustrating part. There was some sort
of a manifesto or journal or combination of the two
that was left behind, some of it posted in online
videos that YouTube has since taken down, but clearly there
was This individual had been troubled for quite some time.

(00:47):
The shooting happening just as this weekly mass was beginning
the first week of school, and the shooter actually from
outside the church, apparently blocking the exits, and then fire
into the church toward the pews where the children and
a few elderly people were celebrating a Wednesday mass.

Speaker 1 (01:07):
The death toll remains at two, but there are many
that are receiving care. Have we received an update about
and is it still seventeen that they say we're also injured?

Speaker 2 (01:19):
Right, it's seventeen. Fourteen children, three adults also injured. All
of them are expected to survive their injuries, thankfully, some
obviously are in worse shape than others. We're also getting
more stories about the heroism there inside the church, even
from fellow students, the older students. You know, the school
was pre K through eighth grade, so some of the
older kids were helping younger kids get down to a

(01:41):
basement to try to avoid the gunfire. Here. Just imagine
such a chaotic situation during what should be a happy
first week at school.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
I did see an interview with a little boy, and gosh,
I wouldn't send my kid out if I were a parent,
But he was so passionate and articulate, and he said
that they did practice such things in the school, but
not in the church, which unfortunately shows that we need
to be vigilant there too.

Speaker 2 (02:08):
Yeah, you know, and I struggled. Look, as a reporter,
I tried to I've sort of been in those situations.
They said, do you want to talk to a child?
And you feel like you're exploiting the child. But as
you said, they were articulate. They seemed to be coping
with what had happened just hours before very very well.
But I don't know, I feel awkward about having miners.
And I didn't see a parent with the child either,
which I sort of like to see. But that's just

(02:30):
on the reporter side of things when you watch some
of these interviews. But he did give an incredible depiction
of exactly what happened. How he was sitting two seats
in apparently from where the stained glass windows were at
the church walls. How a friend jumped on top of
them under a pew and was shot in the back,
and another friend was also shot. But it looks like

(02:50):
those two friends are expected to recover. But this is
also this was their church and their school, So I mean,
these people, this community, they all knew each other. You know,
most schools, not everyone knows everybody, but when you're combining
school and church, chances are everybody knows everybody pretty well.

Speaker 1 (03:07):
We will keep our eye on what happens next, and
we've reached out to Jason Russell with Secure Environment Consultants
again for a segment on the show tomorrow about a
situational awareness and keeping you safe in group situations like that.
Rory O'Neil, NBC News Radio National Correspondent, Thank you, Thanks Steve,