The suspect killed two and wounded 17 people before dying by suicide in the back of the church, said Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara.
Within seconds of a person opening fire into a Minneapolis church where children were gathered for Mass, teachers acted as heroes, Annunciation Catholic School’s principal said Wednesday.
“Children were ducked down,” said Matt DeBoer. “Adults were protecting children. Older children were protecting younger children. … It could have been significantly worse without their heroic action.”
Still, “we lost two angels today,” he said of two students, ages 8 and 10, who were killed.
The suspect wounded an additional 17 people before dying by suicide in the back of the church, said Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara.
The shooter was identified by O’Hara as Robin Westman, 23. The mother of a person of the same name and age as Westman previously worked at the site of the shootings, Church of the Annunciation. O’Hara said he could not confirm a relationship between the suspect and the church, “but that’s obviously something we’re looking very closely at.”
Robin Westman had a manifesto and had timed it to be released on YouTube. It “appeared to show (the suspect) at the scene and included some disturbing writings,” O’Hara said. With the assistance of the FBI, the content has since been taken down and “it now remains under active review by our investigators,” the police chief said.
O’Hara didn’t provide information about the manifesto and added: “I have no information to share on a motive,” he said.
FBI Director Kash Patel said on X (formerly Twitter) that the shooting is being investigated as an act of domestic terrorism and a hate crime targeting Catholics.
Westman was outside the South Minneapolis church and shot through the windows, O’Hara said. The two children killed were sitting in the pews.
“This was a deliberate act of violence against innocent children and other people worshiping,” O’Hara said. “The sheer cruelty and cowardice firing into a church full of children is absolutely incomprehensible.”
At Annunciation Catholic School, which resumed Monday after summer break, there was Mass to mark the first week of school. It was toward the beginning, so some children had already filed in and were seated, while others were coming in, O’Hara said. There were dozens of children present.
Minneapolis police officers entered the church, attempted to provide first aid and rescued some of the children who were hiding throughout the building, according to O’Hara. First responders rushed victims to nearby hospitals.
The police chief said a wooden plank was placed to barricade some of the side doors, and that authorities found a smoke bomb but no explosives at the scene.
