A black-clad gunman killed two children and wounded 17 other people on Wednesday, when she opened fire on students attending Mass at a Minneapolis Catholic school, authorities said, a shocking outburst of violence at the beginning of the US school year.
The assailant, a trans woman in her early 20s, now named as Robin Westman, fired dozens of rounds through the church windows at students sitting in church pews and then took his own life, officials said. The children killed were 8 years old and 10 years old, they said.
"This was a deliberate act of violence against innocent children and other people worshiping. The sheer cruelty and cowardice of firing into a church full of children is absolutely incomprehensible," Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara told reporters.
The shooting occurred two days after school started at Annunciation Catholic School, a private elementary school with about 395 students connected to a Roman Catholic church in a residential area in the southeast part of Minnesota's largest city. Local TV showed parents ducking under yellow police crime tape and leading students out of the school.
At least two of the chapel doors had been barricaded from the outside using 2" x 4" planks, O'Hara said.
Officials said the shooter was armed with a rifle, a shotgun, and a pistol and did not have an extensive criminal history. Officials also said they found a smoke bomb at the scene and were searching a vehicle in the parking lot.
A videotaped message by the suspect showed Westman struggled with depression and was fascinated by the perpetrators of past mass shootings.
FBI Director Kash Patel said his agency was investigating the attack as an "act of domestic terrorism and hate crime targeting Catholics."
Two victims, aged 8 and 10, were slain where they sat as the gunfire turned the morning Mass into pandemonium. It sent worshipers diving behind pews for cover while older children scrambled to shield younger ones, officials said. At least two of the church exits were blocked by wooden planks barricaded outside the doors, O'Hara sa
Law enforcement was investigating multiple online videos to determine if they were posted by the shooter, according to two sources who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Local hospitals said they were treating 15 children and two adults, with many suffering gunshot wounds.
A 2017 yearbook from the school showed that Westman, who went by the first name Robert at the time, had been a student there, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.
"I have no information to share on a motive, other than to say there was some kind of manifesto timed to come out on YouTube," O'Hara said, adding that it had been taken down by authorities.
Online videos reviewed by Reuters showed the text of a suicide note in which the shooter expressed feeling depressed and wanting to carry out a mass shooting. Names of previous school shooters were scrawled on a rifle magazine, along with erratic and wide-ranging political grievances.
In a statement on X, US Homeland Security Secretary Kristie Noem said the suspect was "claiming to be transgender." She continued: "This deranged monster targeted our most vulnerable: young children praying in their first morning Mass of the school year."
Court records showed Westman's name was changed from Robert in 2020 because Westman identified as female.
Appearing with the police chief and other officials at a news conference on Wednesday afternoon, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey cautioned against bringing gender politics into the tragedy.
"Anybody who is 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.
School shootings in the US
The shooting at Annunciation, a parochial school with about 395 students, marked the 146th incident of gun violence at a place of primary or secondary education since January, according to the K-12 School Shooting Database.
School shootings occur on a regular basis in the US, spurring ongoing debates about gun laws and school safety. There have been more than 140 such incidents so far this year, according to the K-12 School Shooting Database.
"Don't just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now. These kids were literally praying. It was the first week of school. They were in a church," Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said at a news conference, visibly angry.
US President Donald Trump said he had been briefed on the shooting and said the FBI was on the scene. "Please join me in praying for everyone involved!" he said on social media.
Similar incidents in Minneapolis
There have been three other shootings in the midwestern city since Tuesday afternoon, including one at a Jesuit high school, that have together left three people dead and seven wounded, according to police.
Wednesday's shooting did not appear to be related to the others, O'Hara said.
Minneapolis has experienced a significant rise in homicides in the years following the 2020 police killing of George Floyd, which prompted nationwide protests, civil disturbances, and staffing shortages in the city's police department. The city recorded 54 homicides last year, down from 71 in 2021 but well above the 29 recorded in 2019.
Minnesota as a whole has a gun death rate below the national average, according to Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun violence prevention group.
Minnesota also experienced an outburst of political violence in May, when a gunman posing as a police officer killed the Democratic state House speaker and her husband and wounded a Democratic state senator and his wife, in what authorities said were targeted assassinations. The suspect has pleaded not guilty to federal murder charges.
Fifth-grader Weston Halsne told CBS News his friend was wounded while trying to protect him.
"The shots were like, right next to me," Halsne said. "I think I got like gunpowder on my neck."
Public records showed Westman's mother, Mary Westman, had worked as an administrative assistant at Annunciation Church. Relatives contacted by Reuters declined to comment.
Officials said Westman did not have a criminal record and appeared to have acted alone. The suspect was employed for several months this year at a Minnesota cannabis dispensary, but was no longer working there, the company, RISE, said.