A shooting at a school in Minneapolis that left two children dead and 17 others injured is being investigated as an anti-Catholic hate crime, the FBI says. The FBI is investigating this shooting as an act of domestic terrorism and hate crime targeting Catholics, FBI Director Kash Patel said in a post on X.
The two children, aged 8 and 10, were killed when an attacker opened fire through the windows of the city's Annunciation Church as children were celebrating Mass. The attacker, who died at the scene of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, was later named by police as 23-year-old Robin Westman.
Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope, expressed his sorrow over the attack. This was a deliberate act of violence against innocent children and other people worshipping, said Police Chief Brian O'Hara.
The sheer cruelty and cowardice of firing into a church full of children is absolutely incomprehensible, he added. The investigation is ongoing, with authorities pursuing leads without releasing a confirmed motive for the shooter.
Witnesses described the chaos as police began receiving calls of a shooting just before 8 AM. The attacker, armed with a rifle, shotgun, and pistol, fired shots through windows, leaving the community in shock and grief. Local officials and families call for unity against such acts of violence, which the governor noted are disturbingly common across the country. In a show of respect for the victims, a half-mast flag is expected at the White House.
The two children, aged 8 and 10, were killed when an attacker opened fire through the windows of the city's Annunciation Church as children were celebrating Mass. The attacker, who died at the scene of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, was later named by police as 23-year-old Robin Westman.
Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope, expressed his sorrow over the attack. This was a deliberate act of violence against innocent children and other people worshipping, said Police Chief Brian O'Hara.
The sheer cruelty and cowardice of firing into a church full of children is absolutely incomprehensible, he added. The investigation is ongoing, with authorities pursuing leads without releasing a confirmed motive for the shooter.
Witnesses described the chaos as police began receiving calls of a shooting just before 8 AM. The attacker, armed with a rifle, shotgun, and pistol, fired shots through windows, leaving the community in shock and grief. Local officials and families call for unity against such acts of violence, which the governor noted are disturbingly common across the country. In a show of respect for the victims, a half-mast flag is expected at the White House.
