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 eight and 10, were killed when an attacker opened fire through the windows of the city's Annunciation Church on Wednesday morning 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.
Authorities have not yet released a suspected motive for the attack. There was a sense of shock and anger that this had happened at the start of a church Mass ushering in the new school term.
Police Chief Brian O'Hara stated, 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.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz expressed that such incidents are increasingly common across the country, hoping no community should experience a day like this. President Donald Trump also extended his condolences to the families affected and directed that US flags fly at half-mast in their honor.
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 eight and 10, were killed when an attacker opened fire through the windows of the city's Annunciation Church on Wednesday morning 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.
Authorities have not yet released a suspected motive for the attack. There was a sense of shock and anger that this had happened at the start of a church Mass ushering in the new school term.
Police Chief Brian O'Hara stated, 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.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz expressed that such incidents are increasingly common across the country, hoping no community should experience a day like this. President Donald Trump also extended his condolences to the families affected and directed that US flags fly at half-mast in their honor.
