A shooter on Wednesday opened fire with a rifle through the windows of a Catholic church in Minneapolis, striking some of the nearly 200 children attending Mass during the first week of school, killing two and wounding 17 people.
Armed with a rifle, shotgun and pistol, 23-year-old Robin Westman approached the side of the church and shot dozens of rounds through the windows toward the children sitting in the pews during Mass at the Annunciation Catholic School just before 8:30am, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara told a news conference.
The shooter then died by suicide, he said.
Photo: AP
The children who died were aged eight and 10.
Fourteen other kids and three octogenarian parishioners were wounded, but expected to survive, the chief said.
On Wednesday evening, hundreds prayed, wiped away tears and held each other during a packed vigil at a nearby school’s gym where Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and US Senator Amy Klobuchar, along with Catholic clergy, joined the mourners.
Archbishop Bernard Hebda talked about the inscription at the front of the Annunciation Church that reads: “House of God and the gate of heaven.”
“How is it that such a terrible tragedy could take place in a place that’s the house of God and the gate of heaven?” he asked. “It’s unthinkable.”
Fifth-grader Weston Halsne told reporters he ducked for the pews, covering his head, shielded by a friend who was lying on top of him.
His friend was hit, he said.
“I was super scared for him, but I think now he’s OK,” the 10-year-old said, adding that he was praying for the other hospitalized children and adults.
Halsne’s grandfather, Michael Simpson, said the violence during Mass on the third day of school left him wondering whether God was watching over.
“I don’t know where He is,” Simpson said.
FBI Director Kash Patel wrote on X that the shooting is being investigated as an act of domestic terrorism and a hate crime targeting Catholics.
O’Hara said police had not yet found any relationship between the shooter and the church, nor determined a motive for the bloodshed.
Investigators were examining a social media post that appeared to show the shooter at the scene.
“The sheer cruelty and cowardice of firing into a church full of children is absolutely incomprehensible,” said O’Hara, who gave the wounded’s ages as six to 15.
He said a wooden plank was placed to barricade some of the side doors, and that authorities found a smoke bomb at the scene.
The alleged shooter released at least two videos, before the Robin W YouTube channel was taken down by site administrators.
In one, the alleged shooter shows a cache of weapons and ammunition, some with such phrases as “kill Donald Trump” and “Where is your God?” written on them.
Federal officials referred to Westman as transgender, and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey decried hatred being directed at “our transgender community.”
However, Westman’s gender identity was not clear. In 2020, a judge approved a petition, signed by Westman’s mother, asking for a name change from Robert to Robin, saying the petitioner “identifies as a female and wants her name to reflect that identification.”
The police chief said officers immediately responded to reports of the shooting, entered the church, rendered first aid and rescued some of the children hiding throughout the building.
Frey and Annunciation’s principal said teachers and children, too, responded heroically.
“Children were ducked down. Adults were protecting children. Older children were protecting younger children,” school principal Matt DeBoer said.
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