An 8-year-old and 10-year-old sitting in pews were killed when a shooter opened fire through the windows of a church at the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis on Wednesday morning, police said.
Seventeen others were injured in the shooting during a Mass that marked the first week of school, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said.
Fourteen of the injured victims were children ages 6 to 15, and the three adults who were shot were parishioners in their 80s, he said. All of those injured are expected to survive, O’Hara said.
The shooter died at the scene from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, O’Hara said. The FBI identified the shooter as 23-year-old Robin Westman, who was born Robert Westman.
Driver’s license information reviewed by ABC News described Westman as a female, born on June 17, 2002. A name change application for a minor born on the same date, June 17, 2002, was approved by a district court in Minnesota in 2020, changing the name of a Robert Westman to Robin Westman, explaining the minor child “identifies as a female and wants her name to reflect that identification.”
Dozens of rounds fired as children, worshippers sat in pews
The mass shooting unfolded just before 8:30 a.m. when the shooter approached the side of the building and fired a rifle through the church windows toward the children and other worshippers sitting in the pews, O’Hara said.
Dozens of rounds were fired, the chief said, and he called it a “deliberate act of violence against innocent children and other people worshipping.”
“Within seconds” of the gunfire, the “heroic staff moved students under the pews,” the Annunciation Parish and School said in a statement. The students and staff were evacuated “in a matter of minutes when it was safe to do so,” the school said.
The suspect was armed with a rifle, a shotgun and a pistol, and police believe shots were fired from all three weapons, the chief said. All three weapons were purchased legally and recently, police said.
A possible smoke bomb was also discovered at the crime scene, the chief said.
FBI investigating as act of domestic terrorism
Police said they believe the shooter acted alone.
FBI Director Kash Patel said the FBI is investigating the shooting as an act of domestic terrorism and a hate crime targeting Catholics, but police said a motive is not known.
“We are looking at, obviously, any possibilities,” police said.
Law enforcement is investigating social media accounts believed to be associated with the shooter, specifically a video posted earlier Wednesday on YouTube, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News. The video shows someone flipping through dozens of pages of notes, which include what appears to be drawings of weapons and one drawing depicting the inside of a church with pews.
5th-grader describes moments shots rang out
Students in pre-K to eighth grade attend the school. Young children wearing their uniforms were seen leaving the school holding their parents’ hands.
Weston, a 10-year-old fifth-grader at the school, said he was sitting next to a stained glass window the shooter fired through.
“It was right beside me. I was like 2 feet away from the stained glass window. So, the shots were right next to me,” Weston told Minneapolis ABC affiliate KSTP.
The boy said he and his classmates immediately hid under a pew as the gunfire continued.
“My friend got hit in the back. He went to the hospital,” said Weston, who spoke to KSTP with the permission of his grandfather. “I was super scared for him, but I think he’s OK.”
He said he and his classmates were taken to the school gym, where they waited for the news of what had just occurred.
Weston said his mother was outside the church when the shooting erupted, and was the first person he saw when he emerged from the church.
“I was scared that I wasn’t going to see her because I didn’t know what was happening. I was just in shock,” Weston said.
Another student at the school told KTSP that she was in the church when she suddenly heard a loud noise that she initially thought was fireworks.
“And then I saw the shooting and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m so scared,'” said the girl, who did not want her name published.
She said a teacher led her and her friend downstairs to seek shelter in a preschool classroom.
“Me and my friend … were just praying and praying,” she said. “I was just like praying everybody could be safe and like nobody would do this again.”
Neighbor describes rushing to scene, comforting wounded children
Pat Scallen, who lives down the street from the Annunciation Church, said in an interview with ABC News Live he mistook the initial shots for roofing work.
“And then after I heard about the 10th shot, I knew it was something bad,” he said, saying he jumped out of his chair and ran to the school.
“Initially, it was kind of an eerie quiet,” he said. Then he saw children coming out the door — including a boy and a girl with what appeared to be serious injuries.
He said he comforted them as they waited for first responders.
The boy “looked me right in the eyes,” Scallen said. “He said, ‘I’m okay, I am okay.'”
The girl, who had been wounded, wanted her mom, he recalled.
“I reassured her that I’d do everything I could to get to her mom, but we needed to stay there and wait for the police and the ambulance to come … I just mainly wanted to keep the kids calm.”
During a news conference, an emotional Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said, “These kids were literally praying. It was the first week of school. They were in a church. These are kids that should be learning with their friends, they should be playing on the playground. They should be able to go to school or church in peace without the fear or risk of violence, and their parents should have the same kind of assurance.”
“This kind of act of evil should never happen, and it happens far too often,” he said.
Frey stressed at a second news conference, “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. We should not be operating out of a place of hate.”
“Kids died today,” he continued. “This needs to be about them. This needs to be wrapping our arms around these families.”
“Minnesota is heartbroken,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz wrote on social media. “From the officers responding, to the clergy and teachers providing comfort, to the hospital staff saving lives, we will get through this together. Hug your kids close.”
President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social that he’s been “fully briefed on the tragic shooting.”
“The White House will continue to monitor this terrible situation. Please join me in praying for everyone involved!” he wrote.
Trump called Walz after the shooting to offer his condolences, a source told ABC News.
Trump has ordered flags to be flown at half-staff until Sunday.
After the shooting, former President Barack Obama spoke out about gun violence, writing on social media, “We can’t allow ourselves to become numb to mass shootings. What happened today in Minneapolis is heartbreaking, and Michelle and I are praying for the parents who have lost a child or will be sitting at their hospital bedside after yet another act of unspeakable, unnecessary violence.”
Former President Joe Biden wrote, “Jill and I are heartbroken and there are simply no words to adequately mark such a horrific and painful moment.”
“With all our hearts, we are praying for the victims, their families, and the community of Minneapolis,” he said.