Two Children Killed, 17 Injured in Shooting During School Mass at Minneapolis Catholic Church
At about 8:27 a.m. on August 27, 2025, as Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota, held an all-school Mass in its church during the first week of the school year, a gunman standing outside fired dozens of rounds through the church's stained-glass windows. The Minneapolis Police Department said two children were killed, ages 8 and 10, and 17 other people were injured, 14 of them children and three of them older parishioners.
Police identified the shooter as Robin Westman, 23, a former student at the school. Police said Westman carried a rifle, a shotgun and a pistol, all legally purchased recently, and died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound behind the church. Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara called the attack a deliberate act of violence against innocent children and people worshipping, an act of sheer cruelty and cowardice.
FBI Director Kash Patel said that afternoon that the FBI was investigating the shooting as an act of domestic terrorism and a hate crime targeting Catholics. The Minneapolis Police Department is leading the investigation, assisted by the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the Minnesota State Patrol. Police said the shooter had left videos and writings set to post on a video platform; the material was taken down with the FBI's assistance, and the motive remains under investigation.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz ordered United States and Minnesota flags at all state buildings flown at half-staff immediately. He said Minnesota was heartbroken by the senseless shooting that morning and that he was praying for the kids and teachers whose first week of school was marred by the horrific act of violence.
President Trump issued a proclamation the same day ordering the flag of the United States flown at half-staff at the White House, on all public buildings and grounds, at military posts and naval stations and on naval vessels, and throughout the territories and possessions of the United States, until sunset on August 31, as a mark of respect for the victims.
Annunciation Catholic School is a pre-kindergarten through eighth-grade parish school serving students ages 5 to 14. The shooting took place on the third day of the new school year, during the school's first all-school Mass of the year.
(Source: Minneapolis Police Department)
Source: Minneapolis Police Department
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：2025年8月27日，明尼阿波利斯圣母领报天主教学校枪击案现场外，联邦调查局探员与明尼阿波利斯警察在警戒线内工作。Chad Davis 摄，CC BY 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: An FBI agent and a Minneapolis police officer work inside the police line near Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis on August 27, 2025. Photo by Chad Davis, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
