Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara to Newsmax: Officer Didn't Hesitate or Wait for Help

In stark contrast to allegations leveled against the delayed first response to past school mass shooters in Parkland, Florida, and Uvalde, Texas – and the first assassination attempt of President Donald Trump – the first Minneapolis officer to go into the church Wednesday did so without hesitation.

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara hailed the unnamed officer's bravery in an exclusive interview with Newsmax 's "National Report" on Thursday morning, saying the officer acted fast with "nothing but a handgun and no special protection."

"I had some parishioners who were present come up to me yesterday at the scene, very emotional, and tell me about how quickly a Minneapolis police officer came into the church after the shooting had begun," O'Hara told Shaun Kraisman and Emma Rechenberg.

"And they described it as just a regular police officer they would see on the street – not wearing a helmet, no SWAT gear, no rifle, nothing like that."

Another person who huddled to protect the students told O'Hara that the first officer at the scene, stepped past a "crowd" of "very, very seriously injured" children, and "ran toward" danger without hesitation.

"He told me that he, the cop, came in and asked him, too, 'Where's the shooter?' And he pointed in the direction to where the shooting had been coming from and he said that officer just immediately ran toward that danger with nothing but a handgun and no special protection," O'Hara said. "And he said that was the first sense of safety that they had at that moment.

"And that was, again, mind you, going through a crowd of children, many of whom were very, very seriously injured."

The quick action in Minneapolis stands in sharp relief to criticism surrounding law enforcement's handling of other school shootings. In 2018, officers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, were faulted for failing to move in as a gunman murdered 17 people and wounded 17 more, prompting national outrage and a state investigation that found lapses in response and leadership.

Similar questions were raised after the 2022 massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, where nearly 400 officers were on scene but waited more than an hour before confronting the shooter who slaughtered 19 children and two teachers. That delay, later described by the head of the Texas Department of Public Safety as an "abject failure," reignited debate over police training and readiness in crisis situations.

The July 13, 2024, assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, also revealed a law enforcement officer spotted a gunman on a rooftop. Despite an officer identifying the armed suspect after climbing a ladder to the roof of the building, the officer did not engage him – instead backing down the ladder, a hesitation that led to a federal and state investigation.

"I know that we're going to continue to hear stories as time goes on about other heroic actions that the other children inside the church, teachers, staff members, parishioners had done to try and protect the children and people who were inside worshiping – and I'm sure more of those stories will be coming out in the coming days," O'Hara continued.

"But I'm very, very proud of the actions of the men and women of the Minneapolis Police Department that responded so bravely that day, as well as all of the first responders and the ambulances, who very quickly triaged everyone and got them to the hospital, because this could very well have been much worse in terms of death."

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