US: Two children killed, 17 injured in attack on Catholic Church
New York: Two children were killed and 17 people were injured in an attack on a Catholic church in Minneapolis on Wednesday morning as the pupils of the church’s school were at a mass marking the start of the academic year.
The shooter killed himself, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said.
The shooting at the Annunciation Church and school is the latest in mass shootings, some of them at educational institutions, plaguing the US.
O’Hara said, “During the mass, the gunman approached on the outside, on the side of the building, and began firing a rifle through the church windows towards the children sitting in the pews at the mass”.
He said that the shooter, who was believed to be in his early 20s, was armed with a rifle, shotgun, and a pistol.
Although he did not identify the shooter, the Associated Press said that, according to a law enforcement source, he was Robin Westman.
A former police officer interviewed on FOX Live said that Westman had posted threats to President Donald Trump and Republicans on social media. It could not be independently confirmed, nor was it known why he chose a church.
Of the 17 injured, 14 were children, and those killed were eight and ten, O’Hara said.
He did not identify the shooter beyond giving his approximate age.
Trump said on Truth Social, “The White House will continue to monitor this terrible situation. Please join me in praying for everyone involved”!
Trump is on a campaign to curb violence in US cities, calling out federal and military personnel to patrol Washington and has threatened to send them to other high-crime cities.
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and other federal agencies quickly sprang into action, joining local police to investigate the shooting.
FBI Director Kash Patel said on X the agency’s “agents are on scene, and we ask everyone to keep potential victims, civilians or law enforcement in harm’s way in your prayers”.
Minneapolis has been inundated with violence, and police said that the church shooting was the fourth since Tuesday, in which at least five people were killed and 25 were hurt.
In June, former Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, were killed in a Minneapolis suburb, and a state senator and his wife were also seriously injured by a gunman.
The area where the church is located is represented in the Minnesota State Senate by Zaynab Mohamed, who said, “I am absolutely devastated for our community. My heart is with the parishioners of the church and the Annunciation students and their families”.
While the US government’s Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) and the State Department criticise other countries for attacks on Catholic institutions, the US also has a record of such religious violence.
According to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference, at least 390 attacks on the minority Christian sect have been recorded in the last five years.