Minneapolis Shooting: 23-Year-Old Assailant Opens Fire During Mass At Catholic School; 2 Children Killed 17 Injured

Minneapolis: A shooter opened fire Wednesday morning during Mass at a Minneapolis Catholic school, killing two children and injuring 17 other people before killing himself, officials said.

Police said 14 of the injured were children, ages 6 to 15, and they are all expected to survive. The three adults who were injured are parishioners in their 80s, officials said.

The shooting happened at Annunciation Catholic School, just days after the first day of school on Monday.

"It's my strongest desire that no state, no community, no school ever experiences a day like this," Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said.

The White House said in a social media post that Trump ordered flags at half-staff for all government buildings until sunset on Sunday "as a mark of respect for the victims of the senseless acts of violence."

She thought she was going to die

Vincent Francoual, 57, said his 11-year-old daughter, Chloe, survived by running downstairs to hide in a room with a table pressed against the door.

But Francoual was still unsure of exactly how she escaped because was struggling to communicate clearly about the traumatic scene.

"She told us today that she thought she was going to die," he said.

Francoual said his daughter feels guilty because at one point she left a classmate behind to keep running.

Other parents told Francoual that their children had to step over the bodies of the two who were killed.

"It's too much to process," Francoual said.

He said he knows the parents of one of the dead children because they went on a trip to the Dominican Republic with a large group of families from the school over spring break this year.

All injured children are expected to survive, police chief says O'Hara said all of the victims are expected to survive, though they have a range of injuries.

O'Hara also said dozens of officers responded to the shooting and many of them - as well as the children and staff present in the church - are deeply traumatized by what they saw.

Authorities are aware of video the shooter posted online, O'Hara says O'Hara said the content, which the shooter had timed for release on YouTube, has been taken down and is under active review.

The shooter lawfully purchased the firearms used in shooting, police chief says O'Hara identified the shooter as 23-year-old Robin Westman, adding that Westman had no prior criminal history and law enforcement believes he acted alone.

Minnesotans will not step away'

"What happened here today will not be gone. Minnesotans will not step away. We're standing with this community," Walz said during the news conference.

He added that violence is all too common across the country and "it's Minnesota's day today." "It's my strongest desire that no state, no community, no school ever experiences a day like this," he said. Minneapolis shooting being investigated as domestic terrorism In a post on X, FBI Director Kash Patel said the shooting is being investigated as an act of domestic terrorism and hate crime targeting Catholics.

Trump orders flags at half-staff to mark Minneapolis shooting The White House said in a post on X that Trump signed a proclamation Wednesday afternoon ordering flags to be lowered at all government buildings until sunset on Sunday "as a mark of respect for the victims of the senseless acts of violence."

Over a dozen children and 2 adults are being treated at trauma hospitals Hennepin Healthcare, the main trauma hospital in Minneapolis, said in a statement that they received 10 patients, including several children - ages 6 through 14 - and two adults. Seven were considered to be in critical condition.

The hospital previously said it had received 11 patients.

Children's Minnesota, a pediatric trauma hospital, said it admitted several children ages 9 through 16.

Authorities say the shooter is believed to have acted alone The police chief said the shooter was in his early 20s, did not have an extensive known criminal history and is believed to have acted alone, but did not release the name or information on possible connections to the school.

A law enforcement official told The Associated Press that authorities have identified the shooter as Robin Westman. That official was not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.

(Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by FPJ's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)

Published on: Thursday, August 28, 2025, 08:54 AM IST