MINNEAPOLIS (Minnesota, US), Aug 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Two children aged eight and 10 have been killed and 17 people injured when a gunman opened fire on schoolchildren attending Mass at a Catholic school in the United States, authorities say.
The police chief of Minneapolis, Minnesota, said that of the people injured in the Wednesday morning attack, 14 are children and two were in critical condition. All the children being treated are expected to survive their injuries.
Local authorities have not yet discerned a motive for the attack and said the shooter – armed with a rifle, a shotgun and a pistol – took his own life and appears to have acted alone. The FBI said that it is probing the attack as a potential act of terrorism.
“This was a deliberate act of violence against innocent children and other people worshipping,” Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said during a news conference. “The sheer cruelty and cowardice of firing into a church full of children is absolutely incomprehensible.”
Police said the assailant, identified as Robin Westman, was in his 20s and did not appear to have had an extensive criminal history. Dozens of rounds were fired during the attack, during which the gunman, dressed in black clothing, stood outside the church and fired in through the windows as schoolchildren were seated in the pews. Additional firearms were recovered at residences with connections to Westman.
The attack is the 146th such attack of its type since January, according to the K-12 School Shooting Database. While school shootings have become a grim fact of life in the US, efforts to place additional restrictions on gun ownership have run into opposition from conservative groups and politicians.
While local law enforcement has not yet put forward evidence pointing to a specific motive, they said they were investigating videos posted online by the shooter. Court records indicate that Westman’s name was changed from Robert Westman in 2020 because they identified as female, a fact quickly seized on by some on the US right.
“Anybody who is using this as an opportunity to villainise our trans community, or any other community out there, has lost their sense of common humanity,” Mayor Jacob Frey said at a news conference.
A fifth grader named Weston Halsne said that his friend was hit by a bullet while trying to protect him.
“The shots were like, right next to me,” Halsne said. “I think I got like gunpowder on my neck.”
Pope Leo XIV, the first pope from the US, called the shooting a “terrible tragedy” and said he was praying for the victims during an “extremely difficult time”.
Kash Patel, the Trump-appointed director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), has said that the agency is probing the attack as a possible hate crime targeting Catholics.
“I’m praying for our kids and teachers whose first week of school was marred by this horrific act of violence,” Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said in a social media post.
US President Donald Trump described it as a “terrible situation”.
“I have been fully briefed on the tragic shooting in Minneapolis, Minnesota,” Trump said on his Truth Social network.
“The FBI quickly responded, and they are on the scene. The White House will continue to monitor this terrible situation. Please join me in praying for everyone involved!” — NNN-AGENCIES
