Two children have been killed and 17 other people have been injured after a gunman fired dozens of rounds through the windows at a Minneapolis Catholic school while pupils were praying.
The assailant, wielding a rifle, a shotgun and a pistol, had opened fire at a church while the schoolchildren were attending Mass before taking their own life, authorities said.
Here is all we know about the tragic incident in the US on Wednesday August 27:
What happened?
The shooting took place just two days into the new school year at Annunciation Catholic school, a private elementary school with about 395 students on Wednesday (August 27)
A number of children were hit in the incident, with Children's Minnesota, a local hospital system, confirming it was treating affected children.
The two students killed were aged 8 and 10. A further 14 children, all between the ages of six and 15 were injured and several were taken to the hospital.
Police also said three further adult parishioners attending the mass at the time of the shooting were also injured, but survived.
FBI Director Kash Patel said the case was being investigated as an act of domestic terrorism and a hate crime targeting Catholics.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara added: “This was a deliberate act of violence against innocent children and other people worshiping.
“The sheer cruelty and cowardice of firing into a church full of children is absolutely incomprehensible.”
Pupils at the school had been sitting in the pews at Mass when gunfire erupted.
One 10-year-old pupil who was in the church at the time described how his friend was “hit” as he tried to save him from the bullet fire by lying on top of him.
"I was like two seats away from the stained glass window," Weston Halsne told CBS affiliate WCCO. "My friend, Victor, saved me though, because he laid on top of me, but he got hit.
Who was the shooter?
The assailant, wielding a rifle, a shotgun and a pistol, has been named in America as Robin Westman.
FBI Director Kash Patel identified Westman, who public records show to be a 23-year-old resident of the area. Court records show Westman's name was changed from Robert Westman in 2020 on the grounds that they identified as female.
Online videos posted by the suspecting the lead up to the attack show he had an obsession with other mass killers.
Police said that investigators are looking at a video “manifesto” which was posted to YouTube by the attacker to “try and develop a motive.”
Drawings of the church set up are among other items found by investigators.
The video has since been deleted from the internet, but is believed to have included a death threat against President Donald Trump.
How have the US’s top politicians reacted?
President Donald Trump has spoken out on the attack, offering condolences to the people in the area.
Posting on Truth Social, he wrote: “The FBI quickly responded and they are on the scene. The White House will continue to monitor this terrible situation. Please join me in praying for everyone involved."
Vice President JD Vance also shared his condolences, adding: "We're at the White House monitoring the situation in Minneapolis. Join all of us in praying for the victims.”
Minnesota Governor Tim Waltz also spoke out on the “unthinkable” incident, saying these shootings in the US are “all too common.”
He said during a news conference: “A community behind us, Annunciation Church and School, committed to academics, service and Catholic values, filled with the first days of school, of beautiful children going to learn those values, share with their teachers and classmates.
“Instead of that joy and that learning, they were met with evil and horror and death."
The Catholic head of Church also spoke out on the atrocity.
Pope Leo XIV sent a telegram to Archbishop Bernard Hebda of Minneapolis, and expressed his “his heartfelt condolences and the assurance of spiritual closeness to all those affected by this terrible tragedy, especially the families now grieving the loss of a child”, according to the Vatican News.
