Investigators were yesterday seeking to establish why a heavily-armed gunman opened fire on schoolchildren during a church service in Minneapolis, killing two pupils and wounding 17 people in the latest violent tragedy to shock the United States.
City police chief Brian O’Hara revealed that the attacker sprayed bullets through the windows of the Annunciation Church whilst dozens of young students were attending Mass to mark their first week back at school.
The church stands adjacent to an affiliated Catholic school in Minneapolis, the largest city in the Midwestern state of Minnesota, where hundreds gathered for vigils honouring the victims on Wednesday evening.
Two children killed in pews
“Two young children, aged eight and 10, were killed where they sat in the pews,” O’Hara said. Fourteen wounded children were expected to survive, whilst three elderly parishioners were also shot, he added.
The shooter discharged a rifle, shotgun and pistol before taking his own life in the car park. The attacker had recently purchased the weapons legally, police confirmed.
One 10-year-old survivor told how he had escaped death thanks to a friend who shielded him with his body.
“I just ran under the pew, and then I covered my head,” he told broadcaster CBS. “My friend Victor saved me though, because he laid on top of me, but he got hit.”
A joint statement from the school’s headmaster and pastor revealed that within seconds of the shooting commencing, “our heroic staff moved students under the pews.”
‘Domestic terrorism’ investigation
The mass shooting represents the latest in a lengthy series of deadly school attacks across the US, where attempts to restrict easy access to firearms face political deadlock.
FBI Director Kash Patel announced the agency was investigating the shooting as “an act of domestic terrorism and hate crime targeting Catholics.”
Patel identified the shooter as “Robin Westman, a male born as Robert Westman.”
Westman (23) legally changed his name in 2020 and identified as female, court papers show.
In a post on X, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem stated the shooter was “claiming to be transgender” and called the attack “unthinkable.”
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey warned against using the attack to target transgender people, whilst addressing the issue of gun ownership in America.
“Anybody who is using this as an opportunity to villainise our trans community, or any other community out there, has lost their sense of common humanity,” Mr Frey told reporters.
“We’ve got more guns in this country than we have people. We cannot simply say that this shouldn’t happen again and then allow it to happen again and again.”
Community mourns
More than 600 people attended a vigil mourning the victims at a nearby school on Wednesday evening, the Minnesota Star Tribune reported.
One attendee, Louise Fowler, told the newspaper she knew the suspect’s mother when she worked at the church.
“The family worked hard with this child who had considerable problems,” she said of Robin Westman, who was reportedly a former pupil at the school.
Videos posted online by the shooter showed a multi-page manifesto, along with names and drawings of firearms.
Mr O’Hara, the police chief, said the manifesto appeared to show Westman “at the scene and included some disturbing writings and content which has since been taken down.”
“We do not have a motive at this time,” O’Hara said, adding that investigators were executing three search warrants at residential addresses.
The attack drew condemnation and expressions of grief from many, including President Donald Trump, who directed US flags at the White House to be lowered to half-staff.
Pope Leo XIV – the first American to head the Catholic Church – said he was “profoundly saddened” by the tragedy.
Minneapolis Archbishop Bernard Hebda pointed out that the attack came just one day after another school shooting near the city, adding in a statement: “We need an end to gun violence.”
This year has witnessed at least 287 mass shootings—defined as incidents involving at least four victims, dead or wounded—across the country, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
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