By STEVE KARNOWSKI and MARK VANCLEAVE, Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A gunman opened fire with a rifle through the windows of a Catholic church and struck a group of 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.”
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said the shooter — armed with a rifle, shotgun and pistol — 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. Police believe the gunman then killed himself.
“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,” said the police chief, who noted that a wooden plank was placed to barricade some of the side doors. Authorities found a smoke bomb but no explosives at the scene, he said.
The children who died were 8 and 10, the chief said. Dozens more youngsters were inside.
Officials were looking into the suspect’s motive. O’Hara said the man is in his early 20s, does not have an extensive known criminal history and is believed to have acted alone.
Bill Bienemann, who lives a couple of blocks away and has long attended Mass at Annunciation Church, said he heard dozens of shots, perhaps as many as 50, over as long as four minutes.
“I was shocked. I said, ‘There’s no way that could be gunfire,’” he said. “There was so much of it. It was sporadic.”
Bienemann’s daughter, Alexandra, said she attended the school from kindergarten to 8th grade, finishing in 2014. After she heard of the shooting, she said she was shaking and crying, and her boss told her to take the day off.
“It breaks my heart, makes me sick to my stomach, knowing that there are people I know who are either injured or maybe even killed,” Alexandra Bienemann said. “It doesn’t make me feel safe at all in this community that I have been in for so long.”
The school was evacuated, and students’ families later were directed to a “reunification zone.” Outside, amid a heavy uniformed law enforcement presence, were uniformed children in their dark green shirts or dresses. Many were trickling out of the school with adults, giving lingering hugs and wiping away tears.
“Don’t just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said at the news conference with the police chief. “These kids were literally praying. It was the first week of school. They were in a church.”
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz called the violence “horrific” in a social media post.
Hennepin Healthcare, the main trauma hospital in Minneapolis, received 11 patients, including nine children — aged 6 through 14 — and two adults, emergency medicine chair Dr. Thomas Wyatt said. He said four of the patients were taken to operating rooms. Children’s Minnesota, a pediatric trauma hospital, said in a statement that five children were admitted.
Local, state, county and federal law enforcement officers and agents converged on the area, a leafy residential and commercial neighborhood about 5 miles (8 kilometers) south of downtown Minneapolis. On Truth Social, President Donald Trump said he was briefed on the “tragic shooting” and that the White House would continue to monitor it.
Dating to 1923, the pre-kindergarten through eighth grade school had an all-school Mass scheduled at 8:15 a.m. Wednesday morning, according to its website. Monday was the first day of school. Recent social media posts from the school show children smiling at a back-to-school event, holding up summer art projects, playing together and enjoying ice pops.
The shooting unfolded while Democratic officials from around the city were meeting elsewhere in Minneapolis, and Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin told the gathering what was happening.
The gunfire was the latest in a series of fatal shootings in the city in less than 24 hours. One person was killed and six others were hurt in a shooting Tuesday afternoon outside a high school in Minneapolis. Hours later, two people died in two other shootings in the city.
Wednesday’s school shooting also followed a spate of hoax calls about purported shootings on at least a dozen U.S. college campuses. The bogus warnings, sometimes featuring gunshot sounds in the background, prompted universities to issue texts to “run, hide, fight” and frightened students around the nation as the school year begins.
Associated Press writers Hannah Fingerhut in Des Moines, Iowa; Jennifer Peltz in New York; Jack Dura in Bismarck, North Dakota; and Sarah Brumfield in Cockeysville, Maryland; contributed to this report.
