Shooter kills 2 children in attack during Minneapolis Catholic school Mass
The FBI is investigating the shooting, which left 17 others injured, as a hate crime and an act of domestic terrorism
A shooter opened fire with a rifle Wednesday through the windows of a Catholic church in Minneapolis and struck some of the nearly 200 children celebrating Mass during the first week of school, killing two and wounding 17 people in an act of violence the police chief called “absolutely incomprehensible”.
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 said at news conferences. He said the shooter then died by suicide.
The children who died were 8 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 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.”