Two children, aged eight and 10, are dead after a shooting during the first week of classes at a school in the US.
At least 17 others — including 14 children — were injured in the incident at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which Governor Tim Walz called “horrific”. The gunman, who police say was in his early 20s, took his own life.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara did not say whether the shooter had any known connection to the school.
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The pre-kindergarten through eighth grade school had an all-school mass scheduled at 8.15am on Wednesday (11.15pm AEST), according to its website.
“During the mass, a gunman approached on the outside, on the side of the building and began firing a rifle through the church windows towards the children sitting in the pews at the mess,” O’Hara said.
“The sheer cruelty and cowardice, firing into a church full of children, is absolutely incomprehensible.”
The shooter was armed with a shotgun, a rifle, and a pistol, he added.
Hennepin Healthcare, the main trauma hospital in Minneapolis, received 11 patients, including nine children and two adults, said Tom Wyatt, the chair of emergency medicine, during a press briefing.
There were no deaths among the patients taken there. Four were taken to operating rooms.
The children brought to Hennepin were aged between six and 14.
The father of two children who attend Annunciation was sitting at work when he got a text message from his wife. She said there was a shooting at the school, and only one of his sons had been located.
“I immediately left work,” Tyler, the father, told NBC News outside the school. “I was a nervous wreck. I was just shocked and in disbelief that this was happening at Annunciation. I couldn’t get here quick enough.”
Tyler was ultimately reunited with both of his boys.
US President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post that he was briefed on the “tragic shooting” and that the White House would continue to monitor the situation.
Monday was the first day of school and social media photos from that day show students in green uniforms greeting each other at bicycle racks, smiling for the camera and sitting together.
What we know about the shooter
The suspect who opened fire in Minneapolis on a Catholic school during Mass has been identified by authorities as a person in her early 20s who left behind videos online with writings that referenced suicide.
The suspect in Wednesday’s shooting was identified as 23-year-old Robin Westman.
FBI Director Kash Patel said the shooter was “a male” born under a different first name.
The suspect’s parent had filed for a legal name change to “Robin M Westman” in Dakota County in November 2019. That application was granted in January 2020, when Westman was 17, after a hearing.
The filing granting the name change said it was in the best interest of the minor child because the “minor child identifies as a female and wants her name to reflect that identification.”
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey warned against any hate being directed towards the trans community.
Anyone “using this as an opportunity to villainize our trans community, or any other community out there, has lost their sense of common humanity,” he said at Wednesday’s news conference. “We should not be operating out of a place of hate for anyone. We should be operating from a place of love for our kids.”
The suspect had no prior criminal history, officials said Wednesday
In the shooting, officials recovered a rifle, shotgun and a pistol used by the suspect that were all legally purchased recently by the suspect.
Authorities believe Westman acted alone. Search warrants are being executed at the church and three residences nearby that are related to the suspect.
“Additional firearms are being recovered from those residences as we speak,” said Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara.
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