A shooter killed two youngsters and injured 17 others when he opened fireplace throughout Mass at a Minneapolis Catholic college on Aug. 27, officers stated.
The shooter, Robert “Robin” Westman, who legislation enforcement stated is a person in his early 20s, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound moments later. Fourteen of the 17 individuals injured had been youngsters, police stated, two of whom are in essential situation.
Here’s what we all know to date.
Shooter Opened Hearth within the Center of Mass
The capturing occurred throughout Mass at Annunciation Catholic College in Minneapolis on Aug. 27, two days after the primary day of sophistication of the brand new college yr.
“This was a deliberate act of violence towards harmless youngsters and different individuals worshipping,“ Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara stated at a information convention. ”The sheer cruelty and cowardice of firing right into a church full of kids is totally incomprehensible.”
Authorities evacuated the varsity, and college students’ households had been directed to a “reunification zone.”
“Don’t simply say that is about ideas and prayers proper now,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey stated on the information convention with O’Hara. “These children had been actually praying. It was the primary week of faculty. They had been in a church.”
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz known as the capturing a “horrific act of violence” in a post on X.
“From the officers responding, to the clergy and academics offering consolation, to the hospital workers saving lives, we are going to get by this collectively,” he wrote in one other post.
Victims Principally Kids
Officers stated the 2 youngsters killed had been 8 and 10 and had been fatally shot whereas within the church pews celebrating a Mass throughout the first week of faculty. It isn’t clear how many individuals had been current within the church when the capturing occurred, and authorities haven’t launched the identities of the victims.
Police have heard estimates on the precise quantity of people that had been within the church on the time, however will launch a extra definitive quantity when it’s decided, O’Hara stated.
Hennepin Healthcare’s chair of emergency drugs, Thomas Wyatt, stated the hospital handled 10 sufferers after the capturing, together with eight youngsters ages 6 by 14 and two adults.
Seven youngsters ages 9 by 16 had been additionally admitted to Kids’s Minnesota, a trauma middle devoted to pediatric care, the power stated in an announcement.
O’Hara stated the entire wounded are anticipated to outlive from their “vary of accidents,” and that the kids have been reunited with their households.
Shooter Recognized
The shooter was Robert “Robin” Westman, according to FBI Director Kash Patel. Westman was armed with a rifle, shotgun, and pistol and approached the aspect of the church earlier than capturing by the home windows towards the kids inside, O’Hara stated.
Authorities imagine that Westman fired all or a lot of the photographs from exterior the church earlier than killing himself within the parking zone.
Westman recognized as transgender, Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem wrote on X.
He allegedly wrote the phrases “For the Kids,” “The place is your God?”, and “Kill Donald Trump” on a rifle journal, Noem stated.
Officers didn’t say whether or not Westman had any identified connections to the varsity. Potential motives are nonetheless beneath investigation, however officers stated he doesn’t have an intensive identified prison historical past and certain acted alone.
Patel stated the FBI is investigating the capturing as an “act of home terrorism and hate crime concentrating on Catholics.”
O’Hara stated Minneapolis police don’t but have a “motive or something to counsel that,” however that it’s working with its federal companions and reviewing “any prospects from wherever the proof will lead us from what we get well.”
Authorities beforehand stated Westman was in his early 20s. Noem later said he was 23.
O’Hara stated authorities situated a smoke bomb, or a firework that may launch smoke, however had not discovered any explosives.
Additionally they discovered a video manifesto that had been timed to add to YouTube following the capturing and are reviewing it for potential motives, O’Hara stated.
Catholic College, Grades Pre-Ok to eighth
Based in 1923, Annunciation Catholic College had 391 college students enrolled for the 2023 to 2024 college yr and has a student-to-teacher ratio of roughly 14 to at least one, in line with the Nationwide Heart for Schooling Statistics. With grades pre-kindergarten by eighth grade, every grade degree has two courses and roughly 20 college students per class.
The college is in Minneapolis’s tree-lined Windom neighborhood, about 5 miles south of downtown. Social media photographs from the primary day of faculty on Aug. 25 present college students in inexperienced uniforms smiling, greeting each other at bicycle racks, and sitting collectively.
Annunciation Catholic College’s web site states that academics “deal with Christian values and civic-mindedness.”
Investigation Underway
Along with investigating the capturing as a focused act of home terrorism and an anti-Catholic hate crime, Patel stated the FBI will present updates to the general public as its investigation proceeds. Legislation enforcement stated beforehand it was investigating whether or not Westman had any identified connections to the varsity.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) stated it had accomplished a tracing of the firearms—the rifle, shotgun, and pistol—discovered on the college.
“ATF accomplished the pressing traces of the recovered firearms and has offered that data to all investigative companions concerned within the capturing at Annunciation Church this morning,” the company’s St. Paul, Minnesota, workplace wrote in a post on X. “This data is for investigative companions solely and won’t be launched to the general public.”
O’Hara stated investigators are analyzing extra firearms discovered at three residential places associated to Westman.
The Metropolis of Minneapolis wrote on X that “there is no such thing as a lively risk to the neighborhood at the moment” however warned residents to steer clear of the realm whereas emergency personnel assist victims.
President Donald Trump has been briefed on the capturing. He signed a proclamation ordering all flags at federal buildings to be flown at half-staff “as a mark of respect for the victims of the mindless acts of violence,” the White Home wrote on X.
Lawyer Basic Pam Bondi wrote on X, “Our federal brokers are on the scene of the horrific capturing on the Annunciation Catholic college in Minneapolis, Minnesota.”
Capturing at One other Catholic College
The capturing on Aug. 27 adopted one which occurred the earlier afternoon at close by Cristo Rey Jesuit Excessive College in Minneapolis, in what officers imagine was a focused capturing. The shooter killed one particular person and injured six others amongst a gaggle of adults who had been hanging out close to the varsity, the police chief stated on Aug. 26.
Not less than one of many adults was focused, and officers didn’t point out if anybody from the varsity was concerned within the capturing.
Annunciation Catholic College is roughly 4 miles south of Cristo Rey. Authorities don’t imagine that the 2 incidents are linked.
O’Hara informed reporters that legislation enforcement had arrested two suspects in relation to that capturing.
“Now we have not gotten the shooter but, however we imagine now we have two individuals beneath arrest that had been current with the shooter when that occurred, and we’re making important progress,” he stated.
The Related Press contributed to this report.
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