ARTICLE AD BOX
Officials are still investigating Thursday after an 8 year old and 10 year old celebrating the start of school were killed and 17 people were injured in a mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis the day before. They were shot while at morning Mass.
Police identified the shooter as 23-year-old Robin Westman, who was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted wound.
O’Hara said Westman shot “dozens” of rounds from outside the church building through windows. Westman had a rifle, shotgun and a pistol, police said.
Of the 17 wounded, 14 were children as young as 6. Three parishioners in their 80s were shot, O’Hara said. The injured were treated at HCMC and Children’s Minnesota.
All of the remaining victims are expected to survive.
“This was a deliberate act of violence against innocent children and other people worshipping. The sheer cruelty and cowardice of firing into a church full of children is absolutely incomprehensible,” the chief said.
Annunciation Catholic School was founded in 1923. Julia Eubanks graduated from Annunciation’s middle school in 2014 and still lives a couple blocks away. She described its community as “so, so tight knit.”
“Everyone who’s gone there is completely tethered to that place for the rest of their lives in the most beautiful way,” she said. “There’s intergenerational friendships that I think really characterize our community and make it so beautiful.”
Westman scheduled a manifesto to publish on YouTube around the time of the shooting that O’Hara said “appeared to show him at the scene and included some disturbing writings.” The video was quickly taken down.
FBI director Kash Patel posted on social media Wednesday that his department was “investigating this shooting as an act of domestic terrorism and hate crime targeting Catholics.” When asked about this, O’Hara said Minneapolis was leading the investigation and had not determined a motive.
In several vigils through the evening Wednesday, people turned out to pay respects to Annunciation students, staff and community. Officials from President Donald Trump and Pope Leo XIV to members of Congress sent condolences and expressed frustration with another instance of school-based violence targeting young children.
The Minneapolis Foundation, with the city, has set up a text-to-donate line: text ACF1 to 41444. The foundation says it will work with the Annunciation community in the coming days and weeks to distribute the funds to those affected.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
MPR News staff Cathy Wurzer and Gracie Stockton contributed to this story.
English (US) ·