Two children dead and 17 injured in Minneapolis school shooting

Two children, aged 8 and 10, were killed and 17 people were injured when an attacker fired through the windows of a Minneapolis Catholic church at people celebrating Mass, police said.

Annunciation Church, which also houses a school, was filled with students when the shooting happened on Wednesday. Of the 17 injured victims, 14 are children and all are expected to survive.

The attacker, 23-year-old Robin Westman, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the scene and had no “significant criminal history”, authorities said.

“This was a deliberate act of violence against innocent children and other people worshipping,” Police Chief Brian O’Hara told reporters.

“The sheer cruelty and cowardice of firing into a church full of children is absolutely incomprehensible,” he added.

The motive for the shooting is still unknown. It is being investigated as an act of domestic terrorism and a hate crime against Catholics, FBI Director Kash Patel said.

Police began receiving calls of a shooting just before 08:00 local time (14:00BST) on Wednesday.

The attacker approached the side of the building and fired dozens of shots through the church windows using three firearms – a rifle, a shotgun and a pistol. Police also found a smoke bomb at the scene.

Officials are investigating if he shot inside the building or if all the shots came from outside the church, noting that no casings from bullets were found inside.

“I could hear ‘boom, boom, boom’,” P.J Mudd, who lives close to the church and was working from home on Wednesday morning, told the Wall Street Journal. “It suddenly dawned on me – it was a shooting.”

He then ran to the church where he saw three magazine cartridges on the ground.

A 10-year-old boy who survived the attack told CBS affiliate WCCO that his friend saved him from bullets by lying on top of him.

“I was like two seats away from the stained glass window,” he said. “My friend, Victor, saved me though, because he laid on top of me, but he got hit.”

“My friend got hit in the back, he went to the hospital… I was super scared for him but I think now he’s okay,” he said.

The school, located in a residential area of southern Minneapolis, is home to students aged between 5 and 14.

The attacker’s mother, Mary Grace Westman, previously worked at the school, according to a school newsletter from 2016. A post on Facebook says she retired from the role in 2021.

Police did find a note the suspect scheduled to publish online at the time of the shooting. The FBI assisted officials and took it down.

Governor Tim Walz said President Donald Trump and his team had expressed their “deep condolences” and offered assistance.

He said the situation is “all too common – not just in Minnesota, but across the country”, adding that he hoped no community or school ever had to go through a day like this.

Trump later said the US flag would be flown at half-mast at the White House as a show of respect to the victims.