Updated August 28, 2025 at 11:36 AM EDT
A shooter opened fire on a Minneapolis church filled with children and other worshippers during a Mass to mark the first week of school, killing two children and wounding 17 more people, authorities said.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey says his community is grieving with families whose lives were upended after sending their children off to Annunciation Catholic School Wednesday morning.
"Think of that last interaction," Frey told NPR's Morning Edition on Thursday. "You should be able to do that knowing that you're going to see them in the evening with certainty. And these families, tragically, some of them didn't have that obvious right."
The shooter, identified as Robin Westman, 23, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the scene after firing through the windows of the Annunciation Church from outside the building.
On Wednesday, authorities recovered additional firearms at three residences in the Minneapolis area that they said are linked to the shooter.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara said a motive has yet to be determined. FBI Director Kash Patel said on X that the attack will be investigated as an act of domestic terrorism and a hate crime targeting Catholics.
Here's what to know.
What happened?
The shooting occurred just before 8:30 a.m. local time near the start of Mass. It was held to mark the first week of classes at Annunciation Catholic School, which is next door to the church, according to O'Hara.
O'Hara said Westman — using a rifle, shotgun and pistol — stood outside the church and opened fire through its windows.
In a press conference on Wednesday, Annunciation Catholic School principal Matthew DeBoer said staff members moved students under the pews "within seconds" of the shooting.
"Adults were protecting children, older children were protecting younger children," he said. "It could have been significantly worse without their heroic actions."
Two children, ages 8 and 10, were killed where they sat in the pews. Seventeen other people were injured, including three adult parishioners who were in their 80s and 14 children between the ages of 6 and 15. Chief O'Hara said all the injured victims are expected to recover.
Children's Minnesota hospital officials said Wednesday that three children remained at the hospital and four patients have been discharged.
Who is the suspect?
Westman had legally purchased the guns used in the shooting and had no prior criminal record, according to O'Hara.
He added that investigators believe the shooter left writings and YouTube videos in connection to the attack.
The videos showed guns and weapon magazines marked with handwritten messages referencing names of past mass shooters and other details. They also showed the inside of a notebook containing schematic drawings of a church sanctuary hall.
In 2020, Westman's mother applied to change the name of her 17-year-old child from Robert to Robin. In court documents obtained by NPR, the mother, Mary Grace Westman, wrote, "minor child identifies as female and wants her name to reflect that identification."
NPR has also learned that Westman's mother previously served at the church where the shooting took place.
What are officials saying?
Mayor Frey says his community is united in grief over "an unspeakable tragedy." He's also calling for action to prevent similar gun violence.
"Prayers are welcome, thoughts certainly welcome, but that's not enough," Frey told NPR's Michel Martin. "These kids were literally praying in church and it is on us right now not just to sit back. It's on all of us to take the necessary actions so that this kind of thing doesn't happen again."
The mayor questioned the wide availability of assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines, adding, "these guns come into the city by the trunk load, both legally and illegally."
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz extended the state's sympathies to people hurt and affected by the shooting.
The students had come to school to experience joy, curiosity and learning — but instead, they were "met with evil and horror and death," Walz said on Wednesday as he stood near the scene of the shooting.
"There shouldn't be words for these types of incidents because they should not happen," the governor said. "And there's no words that are going to ease the pain."
The mass shooting came months after a gunman targeted state lawmakers at their homes in the Minneapolis suburbs, first wounding state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, and then killing Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said interventions and gun control can work to prevent such attacks.
"It's not as if we don't know how to do this," Ellison said on Morning Edition on Thursday. "Actually, since the gun legislation we passed just a few years ago, we've seen a reduction in mass shootings. Of course, one is too many because they're tragic to everybody involved, but we know that we can do this."
Ellison said several changes could help, such as tighter gun laws and protocols to flag the sudden purchase of multiple guns and mental health concerns.
While the investigation is ongoing in Minneapolis, he said, "I think that there are a number of things that very well could have worked, including hotlines and other things like that."
NPR's Joe Hernandez contributed reporting.
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