On Wednesday morning, the children gathered at the Annunciation Church in Minneapolis. It was the first mass of the autumn term and they prayed for "a future filled with hope".
The prayer was interrupted by the shattering of windowpanes. According to four-year-old Ayla, it sounded like someone was "trying to tear down the roof", writes The Washington Post. When the bullets began to whine, teachers and older students tried to protect the youngest with their own bodies. Ayla lay flat on the floor and closed her eyes. She did not want to "see anything scary", her father recounts to the newspaper.
Outside the brick church's window stood a shooter – later identified as Robin Westman, 23 – and aimed at the children. Westman killed two, injured 17 and then turned the weapon on himself.
Investigated as a hate crime
The 14 injured children are between six and 14 years old, according to American media. For several of them, the situation is serious. Three adults were also injured, all over 80.
The total cruelty and cowardice of shooting into a church full of children is completely incomprehensible, said police chief Brian O'Hara as the church bells rang behind him.
The FBI is investigating the church shooting as a terrorist act and a hate crime against Catholics, writes bureau chief Kash Patel on X.
Westman – who was born a man but identified as a woman – had previously been a student at the Catholic school adjacent to the church, but the motive is still unclear. The three weapons that were fired had all been purchased legally.
Manifest
This is the 44th school shooting in the US this year, according to CNN's compilation. On social media, the police and FBI are now looking for answers. Westman's accounts are filled with guns, references to school shootings, self-hatred and racism, according to American media. On Youtube, she is said to have published some kind of manifesto before the shooting, according to the police. In one of the Youtube videos, which was later deleted, several gun magazines are seen scribbled with white ink – including the name "Breivik", a likely reference to the Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik.
Minneapolis Mayor, Jacob Frey, warns against turning hate towards trans people after the shooting.
Whoever tries to use this to blame our trans community or any other community has lost all humanity, says Frey according to The Wall Street Journal.
Children died today. This is about them.
