Two children, aged eight and 10, killed in shooting with 17 others injured, including 14 children
Two children, ages 8 and 10 were killed, with 17 others being injured, 14 of those being children, said Minneapolis police chief Brian O’Hara.
He said:
“This worship service was marking the first week of school for children that are attending the Annunciation Catholic school.
During the mass, a 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 struck children and worshippers that were inside the building. The shooter was armed with a rifle, a shotgun and a pistol. This was a deliberate act of violence against innocent children and other people worshipping. The sheer cruelty and cowardice of firing into a church full of children is absolutely incomprehensible …
Two young children, ages 8 and 10 were killed where they sat in the pews, their parents have been notified. 17 other people were injured, 14 of them being children. Two of those children are in critical condition. The coward who fired these shots ultimately took his own life in the rear of the church.”
Key events
And the Minnesota Vikings football team shared this statement:
The Minnesota Twins baseball team has shared a statement on X in reponse to the school shooting.
“The taking of innocent lives in a place of learning and worship is incomprehensible,” the statement reads. “We mourn this tragedy and yearn for a future where such violence no longer shatters lives.”
Shooter’s uncle descries ‘unspeakable tragedy’
Westman’s uncle, former Kentucky state lawmaker Bob Heleringer, said he did not know the accused shooter well and was confounded by the violence: “It’s an unspeakable tragedy.”
“We’re praying for my sister and her other children and also, obviously, for these poor, poor children,” Heleringer told the Associated Press. He said he had last seen Westman at a family wedding three or four years ago.
The shooter’s identity has been confirmed as 23-year old Robin Westman, according to law enforcement officials speaking to local news outlets.
Records reviewed by Kare 11 showed that Westman had grown up in Richfield and that Westman’s mother was an employee at Annuciation School before retiring in 2021.
Further records reviewed by the outlet showed that Westman had put in an application at 17-years old for a name change from Robert to Robin. The request was granted in January 2020, Kare 11 reports.
Barack Obama has condemned the mass shooting in Minneapolis where two children were killed.
Writing on X, Obama said:
We can’t allow ourselves to become numb to mass shootings. What happened today in Minneapolis is heartbreaking, and Michelle and I are praying for the parents who have lost a child or will be sitting at their hospital bedside after yet another act of unspeakable, unnecessary violence.
Rachel Leingang
A young man who grew up in the nearby neighborhood to Annunciation church and school dropped white flowers at the stoplight near the site.
He heard about the shooting and headed over to pay his respects, tearfully telling reporters that the violence left him shaken.
The church holds a fair, which just happened earlier this summer, and is very much a part of the community, he said.
Voters of Tomorrow, the US’s largest youth-led voter outreach organization, has released the following statement in response to this morning’s mass shooting in Minneapolis:
Our hearts break for the Annunciation Catholic School Community. We offer our sincerest condolences to the victims, survivors, and their loved ones as they navigate this difficult time.”
“At the start of a new school year, kids should be excitedly greeting their teachers and friends, not mourning their classmates. However, this back-to-school season has been marked by daily threats, false alarms, and this horrific tragedy at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis.”
“While decades of lawmakers have failed to enact a comprehensive solution to the gun violence crisis, only this administration has worked to deliberately undo what little progress we have made. With every grant cut and regulation repealed, Trump tells our generation that our lives matter less than the interests of the gun lobby. Trump has students’ blood on his hands.”
Trump orders US flags to be flown at half-mast until August 31
Donald Trump has ordered American flags to be flown at half-mast following the mass shooting at a Catholic school in Minneapolis.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Trump said:
As a mark of respect for the victims of the senseless acts of violence perpetrated on August 27, 2025, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, by the authority vested in me as President of the United States by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, I hereby order that the flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff at the White House and upon all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its Territories and possessions until sunset, August 31, 2025.
I also direct that the flag shall be flown at half-staff for the same length of time at all United States embassies, legations, consular offices, and other facilities abroad, including all military facilities and naval vessels and stations.
Rachel Leingang
I’m standing outside police tape about a block away from where a shooter fired at a Catholic school, killing two children.
Police vehicles with their lights on are staged outside the school as news cameras are trained from outside the police tape, awaiting more information from officials. A white tent is set up outside the school.
The school is near a main road and commercial area. As I walked by a Starbucks and grocery store beside the police line, a woman walked by and said, “It just makes you sick.”
Police officers are redirecting traffic, escorting elected officials and surveying the area.
Marina Dunbar
Leaders and parents across the US have reacted in shock and horror as yet another mass shooting has struck America, this time at a Minneapolis Catholic school when an assailant opened fire on children gathered in a church celebrating their first mass of the new school year.
Authorities said the shooting took place Wednesday morning at Annunciation Catholic school. Two children, ages eight and 10, were shot and killed as they sat in the pew at Annunciation Church. About 17 others were hurt, with 14 of them being children.
As details emerged, political leaders released statements on the shooting.
Shooter named in local reports
The shooter has been named as Robin Westman, 23, by local news outlets. Westman reportedly grew up in Richfield, Minnesota, and his mother worked at Annunciation School.
Westman applied in Dakota County to change his birth name from Robert to Robin, per court documents obtained by Minnesota news outlet KARE 11. That request was granted in January 2020.
The Associated Press has spoken to people at the scene reacting to the shooting at Annunciation Catholic School that left two children dead.
Aubrey Pannhoff, a 16-year-old student at a nearby Catholic school, had been on a mission trip to Colorado with the school earlier this summer.
“I’m just asking him (God) why right now. It’s little kids,” she said. One of her mission trip leaders’ children was grazed by a bullet, Pannhoff said, and she doesn’t know how the other teachers are. “It’s just really hard for me to take in.”
Michael Simpson said his 10-year-old grandson, Weston Halsne, was nicked by a bullet as he sat by the church windows on Wednesday.
His voice was shaking as he left the area around the school. Simpson said the violence during mass left him wondering whether God was watching over the school still. “I don’t know where He is,” Simpson said. “It’s just really hard for me to take in”
Minneapolis mayor’s emotional statement in full
Here is the longer statement from Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey from the earlier press conference today:
“Children are dead. They are families that have a deceased child. You cannot put into words the gravity the tragedy or the absolute pain of this situation. We are a Minneapolis family, but to everybody out there, do not think of these as just somebody else’s kids. Those families are suffering immense pain right now. Think of this as if it were your own. Every one of us needs to be wrapping our arms around these families, giving them every ounce that we can muster.
These were Minneapolis families. These were American families, and the amount of pain that they are suffering right now is extraordinary. Don’t just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now. These kids were literally praying. It was the first week of school. They were in a church. These are kids that should be learning with their friends. They should be playing on the playground, they should be able to go to school or church in peace without the fear or risk of violence, and their parents should have the same kind of assurance. These are the sort of basic assurances every family should have every step of the day, regardless of where they are in our country.
I’m so deeply saddened and I’m so sorry to the families that I know are suffering right now. My ask is to everyone, stand by them. Love them. These families have forever been changed, and we’ve all been changed with them. We need to do everything possible to support them through this time… To the families that are suffering, to those that have experienced loss, I’m so deeply sorry. We’re going to be with you every step of the way. We love you. This kind of act of evil should never happen, and it happens far too often.”
Renee Lego, an Annunciation parishioner who has a 5th grader and 8th grader at Annunciation Catholic School, told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that her older son thought the gunshots were “fireworks or a gas explosion” but then he saw people falling.
“Both my kids have blood on them,” she said. “It’s just horrific — so cowardly. This person knew this was our first all-school Mass of the year. It was obviously planned. This is the children’s Mass, not an advertised Mass for the public.”
Minneapolis mass shooting triggers outcry over gun violence prevalence
Former congressional representative and gun violence prevention advocate Gabby Giffords took to X and wrote:
I am heartbroken and furious over the shooting at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis. Kids should be learning, laughing, making friends — not running for their lives on the very first week of school. Another community is now traumatized by a mass shooting. How many more children will have to live this nightmare before our elected leaders do something?
Meanwhile, House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries wrote:
The shooting at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis is horrifying. Praying for the children, families and first responders during this moment of terror and unimaginable grief. Weapons of war have no place in our neighborhoods, streets or schools.
Similarly, the youth-led gun violence prevention group March for Our Lives said:
“Gun violence is the leading cause of death for children in America. Today in Minneapolis, that meant stained glass blown apart by bullets and kids slaughtered in church. A parent called it evil. They’re right. But let’s be clear: this isn’t just evil — it’s policy. It’s the direct result of people in power cashing checks from the gun industry while our kids are murdered. They know children are dying. And they choose it anyway. We will not live in a country that executes children in schools and churches. We will not accept their cowardice. We demand action. And we will not stop until the killing ends.”
Students at the Annunciation Catholic School, which enrolls children from preschool through eighth grade, only just returned for their first day back from summer break on Monday.
The school’s Facebook page shared images this week of students reuniting and parking their bikes.
“Happy first day of school! It was great having everyone back in the building today,” the school wrote on Monday.
Trump says he was ‘fully briefed on tragic shooting’ in Minneapolis
Donald Trump said on Truth Social on Wednesday morning that he has been “fully briefed on the tragic shooting” and that the “White House will continue to monitor this terrible situation. Please join me in praying for everyone involved!”
Meanwhile, education secretary Linda McMahon said:
“I am devastated by the shooting at Annunciation Catholic School in Minnesota. I am grateful to the first responders working at the scene and praying for the victims of this horrific violence. My office is reaching out to local officials to learn more.”
