A shooting at a Minneapolis Catholic school kills 2 children, injures 17
people
[August 28, 2025]
By STEVE KARNOWSKI, MARK VANCLEAVE and GIOVANNA DELL'ORTO
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A shooter opened fire with a rifle Wednesday through
the windows of a Catholic church in Minneapolis and struck some of the
nearly 200 children celebrating Mass during the first week of school,
killing two and wounding 17 people in an act of violence the police
chief called “absolutely incomprehensible.”
Armed with a rifle, shotgun and pistol, 23-year-old Robin Westman
approached the side of the church and shot dozens of rounds through the
windows toward the children sitting in the pews during Mass at the
Annunciation Catholic School just before 8:30 a.m., Minneapolis Police
Chief Brian O’Hara said at news conferences. He said the shooter then
died by suicide.
The children who died were 8 and 10. Fourteen other kids and three
octogenarian parishioners were wounded but expected to survive, the
chief said.
On Wednesday evening, hundreds prayed, wiped away tears and held each
other during a packed vigil at a nearby school’s gym where Gov. Tim Walz
and U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, along with Catholic clergy, joined the
mourners.
Archbishop Bernard Hebda talked about the inscription at the front of
the Annunciation Church that reads: “House of God and the gate of
heaven.”
“How is it that such a terrible tragedy could take place in a place
that’s the house of God and the gate of heaven?" he asked. "It’s
unthinkable.”
Fifth-grader Weston Halsne told reporters he ducked for the pews,
covering his head, shielded by a friend who was lying on top of him. His
friend was hit, he said.
“I was super scared for him, but I think now he’s okay,” the 10-year-old
said, adding that he was praying for the other hospitalized children and
adults.
Halsne's grandfather, Michael Simpson, said the violence during Mass on
the third day of school left him wondering whether God was watching
over.
“I don’t know where He is,” Simpson said.
Police investigate motive for the shooting
FBI Director Kash Patel said on X that the shooting is being
investigated as an act of domestic terrorism and a hate crime targeting
Catholics.
O’Hara said police hadn’t yet found any relationship between the shooter
and the church, nor determined a motive for the bloodshed. The chief
said, however, that investigators were examining a social media post
that appeared to show the shooter at the scene.
“The sheer cruelty and cowardice of firing into a church full of
children is absolutely incomprehensible,” said O’Hara, who gave the
wounded youngsters’ ages as 6 to 15. He said a wooden plank was placed
to barricade some of the side doors, and that authorities found a smoke
bomb at the scene.
On a YouTube channel titled Robin W, the alleged shooter released at
least two videos before the channel was taken down by site
administrators Wednesday.
In one, the alleged shooter shows a cache of weapons and ammunition,
some with such phrases as “kill Donald Trump” and “Where is your God?”
written on them.
A second video shows the alleged shooter pointing to two outside windows
in what appears to be a drawing of the church, and then stabbing it with
a long knife. It was unclear when that video was uploaded to the
channel.
Westman’s uncle, former Kentucky state lawmaker Bob Heleringer, said he
did not know the accused shooter well and was confounded by the
"unspeakable tragedy.”
The police chief said Westman did not have an extensive known criminal
history and is believed to have acted alone.
Federal officials referred to Westman as transgender, and Minneapolis
Mayor Jacob Frey decried hatred being directed at “our transgender
community.” Westman’s gender identity wasn’t clear. In 2020, a judge
approved a petition, signed by Westman’s mother, asking for a name
change from Robert to Robin, saying the petitioner “identifies as a
female and wants her name to reflect that identification.”
Bill Bienemann, who lives a couple of blocks away and has long attended
Mass at Annunciation Church, said he heard as many as 50 shots over as
long as four minutes.
“I was shocked. I said, ‘There’s no way that could be gunfire,’” he
said.
Police chief says officers rescued children who hid
The police chief said officers immediately responded to reports of the
shooting, entered the church, rendered first aid and rescued some of the
children hiding throughout the building.
Frey and Annunciation's principal said teachers and children, too,
responded heroically.
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A parent hugs her son during an active shooter situation at the
Annunciation Church in Minneapolis, Minn., Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025.
(Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Star Tribune via AP)
“Children were ducked down. Adults were protecting children. Older
children were protecting younger children,” said the principal, Matt
DeBoer.
Danielle Gunter, the mother of an eighth-grade boy who was shot, in
a statement said her son told her a Minneapolis police officer
“really helped him” by giving aid and a hug before her son got into
an ambulance.
Amid a heavy uniformed law enforcement presence later Wednesday
morning, children in dark green uniforms trickled out of the school
with adults, giving lingering hugs and wiping away tears.
Vincent Francoual said his 11-year-old daughter, Chloe, survived the
shooting by running downstairs to hide in a room with a table
pressed against the door. But he still isn't sure exactly how she
escaped because she is struggling to communicate clearly about the
traumatizing scene.
“She told us today that she thought she was going to die,” he said.
Gov. Walz lamented that children just starting the school year “were
met with evil and horror and death.” He and President Donald Trump
ordered flags to be lowered to half-staff on state and federal
buildings, respectively, and the White House said the two men spoke.
The governor was the Democratic vice presidential nominee in last
year’s election against Trump's running mate, now Vice President JD
Vance, a Republican.
From the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV sent a telegram of condolences. The
Chicago-born Leo, history’s first American pope, said he was praying
for relatives of the dead.
News of the shooting rippled through a national Democratic
officials' meeting nearby in Minneapolis. U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, a
Democrat who represents the area around the school, visited the
scene.
Atlanta Archbishop Gregory Hartmeyer, who chairs the board of the
National Catholic Education Association, said in a statement that
reasonable firearms legislation must be passed.
“The murder of children worshipping at Mass is unspeakable,”
Hartmeyer said. “We must take action to protect all children and
families from violence.”
A string of fatal shootings in Minneapolis
Monday had been the first day of the school year at Annunciation, a
102-year-old school in a leafy residential and commercial
neighborhood about 5 miles (8 kilometers) south of downtown
Minneapolis.
Karin Cebulla, who said she had worked as a learning specialist at
Annuciation and sent her two now-college-aged daughters there,
described the school as an accepting, caring community.
“Everyone felt safe here, and I just pray that it continues to be a
place where people feel safe,” she said.
The gunfire was the latest in a series of fatal shootings in
Minnesota's most populous city in less than 24 hours. One person was
killed and six others were hurt in a shooting Tuesday afternoon.
Hours later, two people died in two other shootings in the city.
O’Hara, the police chief, said the Annunciation shooting does not
appear to be related to other recent violence.
Alongside many major U.S. cities, violent crime in Minneapolis has
decreased since the COVID-19 pandemic, based on data from AH
Datalytics and its Real-Time Crime Index, which tracks crimes across
the country using law enforcement data.
___
Associated Press writers Jennifer Peltz in New York; Hannah
Fingerhut in Des Moines, Iowa; Jack Dura in Bismarck, North Dakota;
Sarah Brumfield in Cockeysville, Maryland; Will Weissert and Alanna
Durkin Richer in Washington; Bruce Schreiner in Shelbyville,
Kentucky; Claudia Lauer in Philadelphia; Nicole Winfield in Vatican
City; Steve Peoples in Minneapolis; and Hallie Golden in Seattle
contributed to this report.
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