A shooter took the life of at least two students and injured 17 other people in an attack Wednesday on a morning Mass at a Catholic school in southern Minneapolis, according to police.
Police identified the suspect as 23-year-old Robin Westman, from suburban Minneapolis. Police said the shooter barricaded the church door during the shooting, then died by suicide by gunshot. The suspect was dressed in black and carrying a rifle, pistol and shotgun, officials said.
The children killed in the attack were 8 and 10 years old. At least four children remain in critical condition, according to the chief of emergency medicine at one of the three hospitals treating victims. The remaining victims are expected to survive, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said in a Wednesday afternoon update.
“Don’t just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now, these kids were literally praying,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said during an afternoon press conference. “It was the first week of school. They were in a church.”
Here’s what we know about the incident at Annunciation Catholic School:
Some children remain in critical condition
The chief of emergency medicine at the Hennepin County Medical Center said 11 people had been admitted to the hospital after the shooting, including seven who were in critical condition. He said four required an operating room, all children.
Of the 17 victims, 14 were children and three were older parishioners, according to O’Hara. All remaining victims are expected to survive.
Children’s Minnesota, a pediatric trauma hospital, said in a statement that six children were admitted for care.
Some victims were also brought to the M Health Fairview Masonic Children’s Hospital.
School shooting suspect had a manifesto
The suspect had a manifesto that was timed to go live on YouTube around the time of the attack, O’Hara said.
The manifesto has since been taken down and is being reviewed by investigators. The suspected shooter also wrote incendiary messages on gun magazines, including one that read “Kill Donald Trump.” Images of the gun magazines appeared in the manifesto, which also included a lengthy written note.
Search warrants underway
Search warrants are being carried out at locations related to the Minneapolis school shooting, including the school itself and three residences tied to the shooter, police said Wednesday afternoon.
A rifle, shotgun and pistol were determined to have been used to perpetuate the attack and all three were lawfully purchased by the suspect. Additional firearms are being recovered from the residences, O’Hara noted.
Shooter opened fire in middle of morning Mass
The shooter initially opened fire through a window as children were in pews praying, before entering the church and firing all three firearms, O’Hara said.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said during an interview on MSNBC that her longtime employee has three children who attend the school.
“These kids are doing an all-school Mass and had to watch several of her friends get shot — one in the back, one in the neck,” Klobuchar told the outlet. “And they all got down under the pews and she — her daughter, of course, was not shot — but her daughter ended up being the one to tell one of the dads of one of the other kids that his daughter had been shot.”
A man who lived two blocks from the school described hearing 30 to 50 shots fired over several minutes.
“There was so much of it,” Bill Bienemann said, describing the shots as “sporadic.”
“It was so, it was semiautomatic, it seemed like a rifle. Certainly didn’t sound like handgun and so he must’ve reloaded you know several times for sure,” he said.
Many questions remain as investigation underway
Police officials say they are still unsure of the motive behind the crime, which O’Hara called “incomprehensible.”
The FBI is investigating the shooting as an act of domestic terrorism and a hate crime targeting Catholics, however, Director Kash Patel said.
Investigators said the said the suspect did not have a criminal history.
Court documents indicate the shooter was born male and previously named Robert but changed their name to Robin at 17 to reflect their female identity.
Agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) were some of the first responders to the scene and have started tracing protocol for the firearms used in the shooting.
Patel said agents were on the scene soon after the incident.
Follows spate of shootings in Minneapolis
The school shooting occurred within 24 hours of another mass shooting in Minneapolis around 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.
One person was killed and six more were injured when a gunman fired dozens of shots at a group of people on a sidewalk across from Cristo Rey Jesuit High School, authorities said.
The gunman in that attack used a high-velocity rifle, police said.
“This level of firepower unleashed in broad daylight is completely sickening and unacceptable,” O’Hara said of that shooting. The suspect, as of Wednesday afternoon, is still being sought by police.
Two more people were killed in two separate shootings later in the day.
One of those incidents occurred about a mile from the first shooting, leaving a man in his 20s dead.
At 2:10 a.m. on Wednesday, police said a gunman approached a group on the sidewalk and started shooting, killing one man and injuring another, according to CBS News.
It was unclear if the shootings were related, police said.
The incident also comes just months after former state House Speaker Melissa Hortman (D) and her husband, Mark, were killed in a fatal shooting in the city.
Updated 9:22 p.m. EDT.
Brett Samuels contributed.
