MINNEAPOLIS (AP) \u2014 A shooter opened fire with a rifle Wednesday through the windows of a Catholic church in Minneapolis and struck children celebrating Mass during the first week of school, killing two and wounding 17 people in an\u00a0act of violence\u00a0the police chief called \u201cabsolutely incomprehensible.\u201d<\/p>\n
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 8:30 a.m., Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O\u2019Hara said at news conferences. He said the shooter then died by suicide.<\/p>\n
The children who died were 8 and 10. Fourteen other kids and three octogenarian parishioners were wounded but expected to survive, the chief said.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday evening, hundreds prayed, wiped away tears and held each other during a packed vigil at a nearby school\u2019s gym where Gov. Tim Walz and U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, along with Catholic clergy, joined the mourners.<\/p>\n
Archbishop Bernard Hebda talked about the inscription at the front of the Annunciation Church that reads: \u201cHouse of God and the gate of heaven.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow is it that such a terrible tragedy could take place in a place that\u2019s the house of God and the gate of heaven?” he asked. “It\u2019s unthinkable.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was super scared for him, but I think now he\u2019s okay,\u201d the 10-year-old said, adding that he was praying for the other hospitalized children and adults.<\/p>\n
Halsne’s grandfather, Michael Simpson, said the violence during Mass on the third day of school left him wondering whether God was watching over.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know where He is,\u201d Simpson said.<\/p>\n
Police investigate motive for the shooting<\/p>\n
FBI Director Kash Patel said on X that the shooting is being investigated as an act of domestic terrorism and a hate crime targeting Catholics.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Hara said police hadn\u2019t yet found any relationship between the shooter and the church, nor determined a motive for the bloodshed. The chief said, however, that investigators were examining a social media post that appeared to show the shooter at the scene.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sheer cruelty and cowardice of firing into a church full of children is absolutely incomprehensible,\u201d said O\u2019Hara, who gave the wounded youngsters\u2019 ages as 6 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.<\/p>\n
On a YouTube channel titled Robin W, the alleged shooter released at least two videos before the channel was taken down by site administrators Wednesday.<\/p>\n
In one, the alleged shooter shows a cache of weapons and ammunition, some with such phrases as \u201ckill\u00a0Donald Trump\u201d and \u201cWhere is your God?\u201d written on them.<\/p>\n
A second video shows the alleged shooter pointing to two outside windows in what appears to be a drawing of the church, and then stabbing it with a long knife. It was unclear when that video was uploaded to the channel.<\/p>\n
Westman\u2019s uncle, former Kentucky state lawmaker Bob Heleringer, said he did not know the accused shooter well and was confounded by the “unspeakable tragedy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The police chief said Westman did not have an extensive known criminal history and is believed to have acted alone.<\/p>\n
Federal officials referred to Westman as transgender, and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey decried hatred being directed at \u201cour transgender community.\u201d Westman\u2019s gender identity wasn\u2019t clear. In 2020, a judge approved a petition, signed by Westman\u2019s mother, asking for a name change from Robert to Robin, saying the petitioner \u201cidentifies as a female and wants her name to reflect that identification.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bill Bienemann, who lives a couple of blocks away and has long attended Mass at Annunciation Church, said he heard as many as 50 shots over as long as four minutes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was shocked. I said, \u2018There\u2019s no way that could be gunfire,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Police chief says officers rescued children who hid<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Frey and Annunciation’s principal said teachers and children, too, responded heroically.<\/p>\n
\u201cChildren were ducked down. Adults were protecting children. Older children were protecting younger children,\u201d said the principal, Matt DeBoer.<\/p>\n
Danielle Gunter, the mother of an eighth-grade boy who was shot, in a statement said her son told her a Minneapolis police officer \u201creally helped him\u201d by giving aid and a hug before her son got into an ambulance.<\/p>\n
Amid a heavy uniformed law enforcement presence later Wednesday morning, children in dark green uniforms trickled out of the school with adults, giving lingering hugs and wiping away tears.<\/p>\n
Vincent Francoual said his 11-year-old daughter, Chloe, survived the shooting by running downstairs to hide in a room with a table pressed against the door. But he still isn’t sure exactly how she escaped because she is struggling to communicate clearly about the traumatizing scene.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe told us today that she thought she was going to die,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Gov. Walz lamented that children just starting the school year \u201cwere met with evil and horror and death.\u201d He and President Donald Trump ordered flags to be lowered to half-staff on state and federal buildings, respectively, and the White House said the two men spoke. The governor was the Democratic vice presidential nominee in last year\u2019s election against Trump’s running mate, now Vice President JD Vance, a Republican.<\/p>\n
From the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV sent a telegram of condolences. The Chicago-born Leo, history\u2019s first American pope, said he was praying for relatives of the dead.<\/p>\n
News of the shooting rippled through a national Democratic officials’ meeting nearby in Minneapolis. U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Democrat who represents the area around the school, visited the scene.<\/p>\n
Atlanta Archbishop Gregory Hartmeyer, who chairs the board of the National Catholic Education Association, said in a statement that reasonable firearms legislation must be passed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe murder of children worshipping at Mass is unspeakable,\u201d Hartmeyer said. \u201cWe must take action to protect all children and families from violence.\u201d<\/p>\n
A string of fatal shootings in Minneapolis<\/p>\n
Monday had been the first day of the school year at Annunciation, a 102-year-old school in a leafy residential and commercial neighborhood about 5 miles (8 kilometers) south of downtown Minneapolis.<\/p>\n
Karin Cebulla, who said she had worked as a learning specialist at Annuciation and sent her two now-college-aged daughters there, described the school as an accepting, caring community.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone felt safe here, and I just pray that it continues to be a place where people feel safe,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The gunfire was the latest in a series of fatal shootings in Minnesota’s most populous city in less than 24 hours. One person was killed and six others were hurt in a shooting Tuesday afternoon. Hours later, two people died in two other shootings in the city.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Hara, the police chief, said the Annunciation shooting does not appear to be related to other recent violence.<\/p>\n
Alongside many major U.S. cities, violent crime in Minneapolis has decreased since the COVID-19 pandemic, based on data from AH Datalytics and its Real-Time Crime Index, which tracks crimes across the country using law enforcement data.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
Associated Press writers Jennifer Peltz in New York; Hannah Fingerhut in Des Moines, Iowa; Jack Dura in Bismarck, North Dakota; Sarah Brumfield in Cockeysville, Maryland; Will Weissert and Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington; Bruce Schreiner in Shelbyville, Kentucky; Claudia Lauer in Philadelphia; Nicole Winfield in Vatican City; and Steve Peoples in Minneapolis contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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