Two children were killed and 17 people were injured when a shooter opened fire during putting in a Catholic school in Minneapolis during the first week of lessons. Fourteen of the injured are children.
The shooter died of a self -inflicted firearm wound.
According to officials, all injured victims should survive.
The shooter, armed with multiple weapons, died of a self -inflicted firearm wound and the authorities do not report any active threat to the community.
The school was evacuated and the families met in an area of ββreunification in the midst of a strong presence of law enforcement agencies.
The rescuers were called to the Annunciation Catholic School around 8:30 on Wednesday in the Windom district of the city, about 8 miles west of Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
The minneapolis police chief, Brian O’hara, said that the shooter – armed with a rifle, a rifle and a gun – approached the side of the church and shot through the windows towards the children sitting in the benches during the mass.
The children who died were 8 and 10 and 14 other children were among the injured, said the boss.
“Pure cruelty and cowardice to shoot in a church full of children is absolutely incomprehensible,” said O’hara in a press conference while playing the bells of the church.
The mayor of Minneapolis Jacob Frey complained that the violence had changed the families of the students forever and the city with them.
“Don’t say that they are thoughts and prayers right now,” said Frey. “These children were literally praying.”
In an X post, the director of the FBI Kash Patel said that the shooting is under investigation such as an act of domestic terrorism and hatred crime that aimed at Catholics.
The fifth grade Weston Halsne told journalists that he had lowered the desks, covering his head, protected by a friend who lay above him. His friend was hit, he said.
“I was super unleashed for him, but I think he is now well,” said the 10 -year -old boy, adding that he was praying for the other hospitable and adult children.
Halsne’s grandfather, Michael Simpson, said that violence during the third day of school has left him asking if God was waking up.
“I don’t know where it is,” Simpson said.
O’hara said the shooter was about 20 years old, he didn’t have a vast criminal story and it is believed to have acted alone. The officials identified the shooter as Robin Westman.
Westman’s uncle, the former legislator of the State of the Kentucky Bob Heleringer, said he did not know the accused shooter well and was confused by violence: “It is an unspeakable tragedy”.
“We are praying for my sister and his other children and also, of course, for these poor and poor children,” said Heleinger on the phone. He said he saw Westman for the last time at a family wedding three or four years ago.
“This was a deliberate act of violence against innocent children and other people who worshiped. Pure cruelty and cowardice to shoot in a church full of children is absolutely incomprehensible,” said the police chief, who noticed that a wooden table was placed for barricade some lateral doors.
“I was informed about a shooting at the Annunciation Catholic School and I will continue to provide updates as we get more information,” said the Governor of Minnesota Tim Walz in a declaration on social media. “I am praying for our children and teachers whose first week of school has been ruined by this horrible act of violence.”
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In a post on social media, the city of Minneapolis said that the shooter is “content” and there is no active threat to the community.
Hennepin Healthcare, the main hospital of the Minneapolis trauma, said in a declaration of having received 10 patients, including eight children – from 6 to 14 years and two adults. Seven have been considered in critical conditions. Minnesota for children, a pediatric trauma hospital, said she admitted seven children aged 9 and 16 years.
The officials said that all injuries should survive and their wounds vary in gravity.
Bill Bienmann, who lives a couple of isolated away and attended the Annunciation Church for a long time, said he had heard dozen shots, perhaps up to 50, for four minutes.
“I was shocked. I said,” There is no way that it could be shuts, “he said.” There was so much. It was sporadic. “
Bienmann’s daughter, Alexandra, said she attended school from kindergarten to elementary octave, ending up in 2014. After hearing about the shooting, she said she was trembling and crying, and her boss told her to take the free day.
“I break my heart, it makes me sick in the stomach, knowing that there are people I know who are wounded or perhaps even killed,” said Alexandra Bienmann. “It doesn’t make me feel safe in this community in which I have been so long.”
The school was evacuated and the families of the students were later addressed to a “reunification area” at school. Outside, between a presence of uniform law enforcement agencies, there were children in uniform in their shirts or dark green clothes. Many were leaving school with adults, giving persistent hugs and drying tears.
Pope Leo XIV sent a telegram of condolences on the shooting, calling him a “terrible tragedy” and saying that he was praying for the relatives of the dead and injured “at this extremely difficult moment”.
Leo, the first American Pope in history, said he was “deeply saddened” to find out the filming of the Annunciation Catholic School Church. He sent his condolences “to all the people affected by this terrible tragedy, in particular the families who now suffer from the loss of a child”.
“I have a broken heart for the horrible violence at the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis this morning,” said American senator Amy Klobuchar on X. “My prayers are with students, teachers and families and I am grateful for the first rescuers who are on the scene”.
President Donald Trump declared on his Truth Social Platform that he had been informed on the filming.
“The White House will continue to monitor this terrible situation,” said Trump. “Please join me in praying for all the subjects involved!”
Local and state police officers, FBI, alcohol bureau, tobacco and firearms and other authorities have been converted to the school.
Dating back to 1923, the pre-Barchetta up to the eighth elementary had a mass for the whole school scheduled at 8:15 am on Wednesday morning, according to its website. On Monday it was the first day of school and the photos of social media on that day show the students in green uniforms who greet each other in the racks, smiling for the camera and sitting together.
The shots were the last of a series of fatal shootings in the city in less than 24 hours. A person was killed and six others were injured in a shooting on Tuesday afternoon outside a high school in Minneapolis. Hours later, two people died in two other shootings in the city. [With AP report]
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