Crowds of mourners pack vigils after shooting killed two children, wounded 17

This article is our live coverage from Aug. 27. Find the latest reporting here.

Hundreds gathered in the Twin Cities on Wednesday night to mourn a mass shooting that left two children dead and 17 people injured. The shooter attacked while the students were in a morning Mass, the first of the school year, at Annunciation Church in south Minneapolis.

The suspected shooter, identified as 23-year-old Robin Westman, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the scene, according to police.

Mayor Jacob Frey decried the “horrific violence in south Minneapolis,” which prompted a huge law enforcement response surrounding the area.

Here’s what we know so far:

Follow live updates below:

10:16 p.m. - After the vigil wrapped up, Tori Smith and Sky Mitchell, both in their early 20s, were among the last attendees lingering on the baseball diamond at Lynnhurst Park.

“We need our community to come back with love, to care for our neighbors — to be kind to our people,” Mitchell said. “We’re all the same. We come from the same blood. We need to stop being so mean to each other.”

- Victor Stefanescu

8:58 p.m. - The memorial prayer service at Academy of Holy Angels began late to let in several hundred people still waiting outside. Mourners filled the Academy of Holy Angels gym from wall to wall, their voices blending together in song.

Friends hugged each other, many in tears. Several local restaurants donated food, which lined tables outside the gym, for community members as they left. Lutheran Church Charities set two crosses and hearts outside with flowers and candles laid at their bases.

“I was very moved to see how many churches were having prayer services this evening, how many of our protestant brothers and sisters,” Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda said to the crowd. “I received messages today from the Jewish community, from the Muslim community. I know there are representatives from both of those groups who are here.”

“It’s indescribable, as a member of another faith,” Cohen said. “It’s horrific.”

Hebda read a message from Pope Leo, written by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, that expressed the pope’s profound sadness.

“He sends his heartfelt condolences and the assurance of spiritual closeness to all those affected by this terrible tragedy,” Hebda said.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar told the Minnesota Star Tribune that the family of one of the children who were killed this morning attended the vigil.

“Watching that mom and dad with the little sister there is something I will never forget,” Klobuchar said. “It is brave to be here tonight.”

8:29 p.m. - As 8 p.m. passed, a bagpipe player and pianist performed near home plate at a Lynnhurst Park baseball diamond, where attendees had laid flowers. Despite the massive crowd, you could hear the sound of crickets as the echoes of the bagpipe faded away.

Alton Finch, 33, said he was at HCMC for an appointment this morning when victims started arriving at the hospital. It felt devastating, he said.

He brought his two young daughters to the vigil, where they stood holding flowers shortly after the sun disappeared behind the trees.

“It could be my children,” he said.

- Victor Stefanescu

Her husband held her 4-year-old son, Enoch, who attends school at Annunciation Church. Edgar said she was running late to drop off Enoch on Wednesday morning. When she arrived, another mom told her a “shooting was happening right now.”

She immediately turned around, but was barricaded by dozens of EMS vehicles and more than 60 police cars. Remembering the morning, she began crying.

“I knew something wasn’t right,” she said.

Community members attending the vigil ranged from young children to high school students, families and older adults — including priests, nuns and rabbis.

- Emmy Martin

Libby Holden, a volunteer organizer with the Minnesota chapter of Moms Demand Action, said after becoming a parent to twins “every shooting felt different. It felt more immediate. And it felt more traumatic.”

To keep her kids safe, Holden said, she bought the best car seats and enrolled them in swimming lessons.

“But I really felt powerless to stop gun violence,” she added, so she decided to volunteer with the advocacy group.

Holden chose to send her children to private school partly because of the sense of safety associated with the institution.

“But today’s shooting and many other shootings, … they all show that no child in America is safe from gun violence — that resources for private school or parental involvement, those can’t buy your way into security,” Holden said.

- Victor Stefanescu

7:39 p.m. - More than 600 people attended a vigil at the Academy of Holy Angels on Wednesday evening to mourn the Annunciation students who were killed in the morning’s shooting and pray for those injured.

Gov. Tim Walz and Sen. Amy Klobuchar attended the prayer service, hugging and talking with community members in the crowd. Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda presided.

Louise Fowler, a vigil attendee and member of Annunciation Church since 1987, said she knew Mary Grace Westman, Robin Westman’s mother, when she worked at the church — and by extension, Robin.

“The family worked hard with this child who had a lot of problems,” she said of Robin Westman.

6:56 p.m. - What we know about Robin Westman’s educational background:

- Liz Navratil, Jeffrey Meitrodt, Eva Herscowitz and MaryJo Webster

6:47 p.m. - Three children remain at Children’s Minnesota, according to the hospital. Four patients have been discharged.

“Our thoughts are with all the victims, their families and loved ones in our communities who are impacted by yet another senseless act of violence. We will not share more details to respect the privacy of our patients and families,” the hospital said in a statement.

- Paul Walsh

Most traditional hunting firearms don’t require a permit to purchase. You need to be 21 to buy a handgun in Minnesota and 18 to purchase all other guns. Alleged shooter Robin Westman was 23.There is no limit to how many firearms one person may own in Minnesota.

Read more about Westman’s possible arsenal and Minnesota’s gun laws here.

- Deena Winter

6:18 p.m. - A 70-year-old retired teacher who declined to be identified said he lived next door to Westman near the intersection of W. 47th Street and York Avenue S. for several years before the Westmans moved out in 2021.

He said Westman was attending Southwest High School and would walk by his house. He said Westman could often be seen rollerblading on the sidewalk and in the alley.

- Louis Krauss

5:43 p.m. - All ten survivors of the mass shooting at Annunciation Church remained at HCMC on Wednesday evening, according to media relations manager Christine Hill.

Their conditions have not changed.

Six children and an adult remain in critical condition. Two children and an adult are hospitalized for non-life threatening injuries.

Hill said she could not say when any of the patients might be discharged.

As the youngest victims are away from their teddy bears and other favorite plush toys at home, the Hennepin Healthcare Foundation will soon have announcement about further steps to keep these patients as comfortable as possible, Hill said.

- Rohan Preston

5:27 p.m. - Hospital and emergency medical services officials credited Minneapolis police’s initial accurate estimates of the number of gunshot victims with helping an emergency response that got all the people needing hospital attention loaded into ambulances within 25 minutes of the initial call. All 17 hospitalized individuals are expected to survive.

“With the (I-35W) bridge collapse, they said, ‘Send us everything you’ve got!” said Tyler Lupkes, special operations battalion chief for Hennepin EMS. “But here we have firm numbers.”

Police officers brought the injured out to the front of the church, where paramedics loaded them sometimes two or three at a time into ambulances. Critical cases were routed to HCMC in Minneapolis, while children with non-critical injuries went to Children’s Minnesota and non-critical adults went to North Memorial in Robbinsdale.

Read more about the medical response to the shooting here.

- Jeremy Olson

5:00 p.m. - The shooting at Annunciation Church is the 286th mass shooting in the United States so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive. These mass shootings, defined as those with four or more victims, have resulted in 246 deaths and 1,297 injuries.

Mass shootings have become more frequent in recent years, averaging about 600 incidents per year and nearly the same number of deaths. Data from a separate organization, the K-12 School Shooting Database, shows this is the fourth mass shooting that occurred either inside a school or on school property in the U.S. this year. Last year there were five incidents.

-Jeff Hargarten and MaryJo Webster

“Sen. John Hoffman, Yvette Hoffman and Hope Hoffman today send all the love and support to the Annunciation Catholic School and Church community and the entire state of Minnesota. We are all impacted by these mindless acts of violence and senseless attacks. The evil actions of an individual can impact the lives of so many, the victims and our community. Our family understands this firsthand and calls on our State and the nation to find more grace, and peace in our daily lives. We will hold these families in our hearts and prayers forever.”

- Abby Simons

4:45 p.m. - After FBI Director Kash Patel said that Wednesday’s shooting was being investigated as domestic terrorism and a hate crime, it potentially placed the event on a growing list of shootings that have targeted houses of worship in the U.S. in recent years.

Among the examples, worshippers have been attacked at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wis., in 2012, a black church in Charleston, S.C., in 2015 and a Jewish synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018. Other incidents where a motive is less clear or did not involve a hate crime have unfolded in places of worship or an affiliated school in Kentucky, Wisconsin, Texas and Tennessee since 2024, according to news reports.

- Elliot Hughes

- Jeremy Olson

4:25 p.m. - Rob Doar, senior vice president of the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus, reviewed a recent YouTube video posted by Westman showing various guns and ammunition. Doar identified the weapons as an AR-15 rifle, a Mossberg 590 Cruiser shotgun, a Smith & Wesson M&P compact 9mm handgun with three magazines, and a revolver that appears to be a Colt 38 Special police issue.

He also saw in the video two 30-round AR-15 magazines among numerous others holding anywhere from 20 to 60 rounds. The AR-15 magazine had M855 NATO Green Tip ammunition, while the 9-millimeter handgun had Full Metal Jacket rounds.

“Both of these are relatively cheap range ammunition, not typically used for hunting or self-defense,” Doar said. “The NATO round is designed to shoot through barricades, utilizing a steel core. They are sold cheaply as surplus range ammunition.”

- Paul Walsh

“Our hearts are heavy; full of rage and sorrow,” the Lowbrow wrote on Facebook. “South Mpls: Know that we love you and hope to be there for you in the coming days and weeks. We want to be a place for you to break bread and grieve.”

Red Wagon Pizza, about a mile from Annunciation, is closing early Wednesday, at 7 p.m., so team members can attend a candlelight vigil. And El Sazon Cocina & Tragos, which is around the corner from the school, offered their restaurant as “a place to sit, to gather, to grieve, or simply to share a meal with others. If you need comfort, a listening ear, or just a reminder that this community cares with you, our doors are open.”

- Sharyn Jackson

4:10 p.m. - Robin Westman was employed “for several months” earlier this year by Rise, a chain of medical cannabis dispensaries in Minnesota, a spokesman for the chain’s parent company Green Thumb Industries confirmed in a statement. Westman was not employed by Rise at the time of the Annunciation Church shooting.

Rise is cooperating fully with law enforcement, the statement said, but the company declined to provide additional details about Westman.

- Matt DeLong

4:05 p.m. - Nick Petersen, spokesman for Children’s Minnesota, released the following: seven children between ages 9-16 were admitted to the hospital for care. One patient has been discharged.

- Paul Walsh

3:59 p.m. - In a statement posted to social media on Wednesday, school staff asked for prayers and praised the reactions of school staff and first responders.

“This morning, a gunman began shooting into our church from the outside during Mass. You need to know that within seconds, our heroic staff moved students under the pews. Law enforcement responded quickly and evacuated all of our children and staff to safety in a matter of minutes when it was safe to do so.”

School and church staff said it is unclear when students will return to class.

“As we process and navigate this unfathomable time together, we will be in touch this weekend regarding when school will resume,” read the statement from Principal Matthew DeBoer and Dennis Zehren, pastor of the Church of the Annunciation.

- Mara Klecker

3:53 p.m. - Danielle Gunter, mother of an eighth-grade boy who survived being shot, said in a statement Wednesday afternoon to news media that “we feel the pain, the anger, the confusion, and the searing reality that our lives will never be the same. Yet we still have our child.”

Gunter praised the police “who raced into danger for others, for us. We thank them all. Our son shared with us that an MPD officer ‘really helped him.’ He said the officer rendered aid, hugged him, reassured him, and prayed with him before getting into the ambulance.”

- Paul Walsh

3:35 p.m. - Gov. Tim Walz said in an interview with the Minnesota Star Tribune that the state is reeling from a summer that has now seen two targeted acts of extreme violence, one against state lawmakers and one against children inside a church.

“It is traumatic,” Walz said. “I think this is a state where any of these shootings is too many but I think something like the assassination of Melissa and Mark [Hortman] and now this just unimaginable killing children in their pew.”

Walz said his phone call with President Trump today showed an openness to dialogue across the political aisle on how to prevent similar killings.

— Jeff Day

— Eva Herscowitz

3:10 p.m. - Speaking to Annunciation students, parents and staff, an emotional principal Matt DeBoer said, “You are so brave, and I am so sorry that this happened to us today.”

“Within seconds of this situation beginning, our teachers were heroes. Children were ducked down, adults were protecting children, older children were protecting younger children and, as we heard earlier, it could have been significantly worse without their heroic action,” he added.

— Paul Walsh

3 p.m. - Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said two children, ages 8 and 10, were sitting in the pews at mass when they were shot and killed. Others injured were between the ages of 6 and 15. Three injured adults were in their 80s. All injured victims are expected to survive, O’Hara said.

O’Hara also said police are aware of a manifesto that the shooter had timed to be released on YouTube.

— Abby Simons

2:53 p.m. - Regarding the staff at Annunciation, Mayor Jacob Frey said “The way they acted was nothing short of heroic.”

“As horrible as this has been it could have been far worse.”

He went on to thank first responders for their bravery. “It can’t just be words, there needs to be action and when we have seen school shooting after school shooting, when we have seen churches get shot up by bad actors, the impetus has to be on us to do more … It’s on all of us.”

“Kids died today,” Frey said. “This needs to be about them. This needs to be about wrapping our arms around these families with every bit of love that we can possibly show.”

— Abby Simons

2:50 p.m. - Gov. Tim Walz said that on the first days of school, “Instead of that joy and curiosity they were met with evil and horror and death. We often say this is unspeakable tragedy and there are no words. Well, there shouldn’t be words.”

Walz said that once the cameras are gone, Minnesotans will stand together. “It’s on these days like this we are unified as a community. Everyone in this community today is part of that Annunciation parish.”

— Abby Simons

“These little kiddos are in this celebratory Mass in their first week of school, to be exposed to this level of hatred and violence?” said Smith, a Democrat. “I think in these kinds of moments, there is a struggle to understand why. How could someone do this?”

— Christopher Vondracek

2:39 p.m. - FBI Director Kash Patel said his agency is “investigating this shooting as an act of domestic terrorism and hate crime targeting Catholics.”

2:31 p.m. - Officials are set to hold a press briefing on the deadly shooting. Watch the briefing live below:

— David Taintor

The firearms shown are a rifle, a shotgun and two handguns. At times menacing and laughing maniacally, and at other times quietly apologizing to family, the narrator speaks about plans to injure children without remorse, invoking the names of a multinational investment company, an oil company and a beer company, as well as a Second Amendment activist running for Congress in Texas.

Words, phrases and drawings had been scrawled in marker all over the weapons and magazines, some of the messages antisemitic, one reading “kill Donald Trump.” The narrator displays a four-page letter to friends and family that says to the narrator’s parents: “I’m sorry I didn’t turn out as you had hoped.”

There are references to a pedophile and a rapist, and hostility about Christianity, including the image of Jesus on a shooting target and phrases scrawled on the guns such as “Where’s your God now?”

— Deena Winter

2:25 p.m. - Pope Leo has sent a message of support to the families impacted by the deadly shooting today.

2:15 p.m. - Bernard Hebda, archbishop of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, announced that all are invited to a prayer service at 7 p.m. today at the Academy of Holy Angels, 6600 Nicollet Ave, in Richfield.

Hebda noted that prayers have been coming in to the archdiocese from Pope Leo and “so many from all around the globe, all praying for the families of Annunciation Parish and School and for all who were impacted by this morning’s senseless violence.”

— Paul Walsh

2:10 p.m. - Prayers and condolences filled Annunciation Catholic School’s Facebook page from fellow parents, alumni, schools and local businesses, all looking to offer support the only way they could. But one empathetic parent spoke from experience: “I get it. Unfortunately. I am so very sorry. The days, weeks, months will not be easy; but you will make it through. Cling to the Cross. You are not alone, there are others who know what you are going through. We love you. We got you. God bless each of you.”

— Nicole Hvidsten

Holy Angels also postponed tomorrow’s boys varsity game vs. Washburn High School. “Our hearts are heavy, and our prayers are with the students, staff, families, and community directly impacted by today’s events,” a statement on the Holy Angels boys soccer Instagram account said. Cristo Rey Jesuit High School and St. Agnes School also postponed scheduled games.

On Tuesday around 1:30 p.m., a shooter killed one man and wounded six people near the intersection of E. 29th Street and Clinton Avenue, right behind Cristo Rey in Minneapolis’ Phillips neighborhood. “With what happened yesterday, we wanted to give it a few hours,” St. Agnes athletics and activities director Michael Streitz said. “It was a mutual thing between the two schools.”

— Alicia Eler and Cassidy Hettesheimer

1:57 p.m. - Within five hours of the shooting, President Donald Trump ordered American flags throughout the United States be flown at half-staff at the White House and “all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels of the Federal Government” until sunset Sunday.

— Paul Walsh

“We just found out who it was, and now Chloe, our daughter, is starting to tell us what she thinks happened, and now she feels guilty. So, we are into a new territory” as parents, he said. “It’s one of those moments that we just need to be vulnerable, but knowing we have no answer.” Francoual praised Annunciation staff’s response. “They locked the door of the church, and good thing it was locked, because God knows what would have happened if not,” he said.

— Sharyn Jackson

1:38 p.m. - Endre Gunter, Jr., was in the school year’s first 8:15 a.m. Wednesday Mass when he looked out the church window and saw the shooter coming.

“Then he heard boom, boom, boom,” according to his grandmother Denise Roberts, who spoke with him after surgery. “A girl next to him got hit in the head. He saw flesh fly. Endre was shot in the stomach.”

Roberts was among family members keeping vigil at HCMC Wednesday.

— Rohan Preston

1:32 p.m. - A YouTube video posted Wednesday morning and attributed to Robin Westman shows a person muttering and flipping through pages of a notebook filled with indiscernible writings. At the end, the person says, “This will just look like another video on the day that catches you all up.”

The person then flips to an image diagramming the inside of a church with rows of pews. The person stabs a knife through the diagram, saying “That’s all, that’s all I do. I fall, I break and I die.”

Another video purportedly from Westman appears to show a lengthy apology note to family and friends, saying, “I don’t expect forgiveness and I don’t expect any apology. I have to hold much weight, but to my friends and those close to me, I do apologize for the effect my actions will have on your lives.”

— Jeff Day

“It sounds so cliché, but it’s your worst nightmare,” she said. “You live the worst of that nightmare until you see your child, but then it’s like you’re still trying to wake up.”

Painter rushed to the school and was brought into the basement gymnasium with other parents to reunite with their children. Many students were crying, Painter said, while others were silent and looked terrified. They said children and teachers dropped to the ground during the shooting, taking cover under the pews. Painter’s daughter told her mom that the church is ruined and she is scared to go back. “She had come home from the first day of school on Monday so excited,” Painter said. Painter said the school’s strong sense of community and connection to the south Minneapolis neighborhood is the reason she and her husband chose it. But Painter also remembers thinking: Were there additional safety concerns for a religious school?

“I don’t blame the school,” Painter said, adding that she felt the school followed safety protocols and communicated well with families.

— Mara Klecker

1:15 p.m. - Noting the close-knit ties of families in Minneapolis, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat, said so many residents of the city have ties to Annunciation Catholic. Klobuchar heard from a former staffer whose children attend the school and who knows children wounded in the morning’s gun violence.

Klobuchar said mass shootings have left a “trail of tears” across America, invoking gunman attacks on schools in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 students and two teachers were killed, and Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., where 20 children and six adult staff were killed.

— Christopher Vondracek

1:08 p.m. - According to court records, Robin Westman’s mother applied to change her child’s name in 2019 from Robert Paul Westman to Robin M. Westman in Dakota County, because she identified as a female. Because Westman was a minor at the time, her mother had to sign off on the change. According to the application, Westman “identifies as a female and wants her name to reflect that identification.”

— Jeff Day

12:52 p.m. - Two sources familiar with the investigation into the shooting at Annunciation Church said Robin Westman, 23, of Richfield, is the suspected shooter.

Westman’s mother answered a cellphone call crying but told a Star Tribune reporter she did not know if her child was the shooter.

It appears Westman’s mother has a connection to Annunciation. The church said in a 2021 Facebook post announcing her departure that she provided “wonderful hospitality.”

— Jeff Day

12:30 p.m. - As word of the shooting spread during a beautiful morning at the Minnesota State Fair, about a dozen people solemnly watched the news on a big screen of a local TV station. Dallas and Sue Tesmer of Plainview, Minn., had just arrived at the fairgrounds when they learned of the horror playing out several miles away.

“We didn’t know what happened until we walked up here,” Sue Tesmer said. “Oh, man. What is wrong with our society?”

— Bob Timmons

12:15 p.m. - Annunciation church is just blocks from 66-year-old Steve Perry’s home. Perry said his daughters, ages 14 and 17, panicked upon hearing the news because they drive and walk past the church everyday.

“There is nothing about this that is remote to them, or can be made remote to them, anymore. It’s literally in their backyard,” Perry said. “I don’t know what we’re going to say to them. I don’t know what they and their friends are saying to each other now. But it’s pretty hopeless.”

— Kyeland Jackson

12:02 p.m. - Members of the Democratic National Committee voted to end the group’s summer meeting at the Minneapolis Hilton earlier than planned on Wednesday following the shooting.

— Sydney Kashiwagi

11:45 a.m. - Nearby Catholic schools were busy preparing for the upcoming school year when gunfire broke out. At Our Lady of Peace, just 1.7 miles east of Annunciation, teachers went into a “soft lockdown” as news of the shooting trickled out, said a school employee who declined to provide her full name. Teachers remained in the building until police said it was safe to leave.

“The principals all know each other,” the employee said of Catholic schools in the area. “We’re a whole community. It’s very sad, and they’re very close by to us, so it really hits close to home.”

Our Lady of Peace will welcome students back after Labor Day.

— Eva Herscowitz

“The parents were parking on the street by me coming out screaming, asking where their kids are,” she said.

— Louis Krauss

11:35 a.m. - Renee Lego, an Annunciation parishioner who has a 5th grader and and 8th grader at Annunciation Catholic School, said her older son thought it was fireworks or a gas explosion until he started to see people falling.

“Both my kids have blood on them,” she said Wednesday morning. “It’s just horrific — so cowardly. This person knew this was our first all-school Mass of the year. It was obviously planned. This is the children’s Mass, not an advertised Mass for the public.”

Lego got a call from another parent and drove straight to the school, where terrified parents were gathering. “I got as close as I could and kept trying to get ahold of my kids — I didn’t know if my kids were alive or not,” she said. “We have a friend whose son is unaccounted for right now. We don’t know what that means. Several of my kids’ buddies are at HCMC. Just cannot make sense of any of this.”

11:31 a.m. - Grandparents Denise and Norris Roberts were among those rushing to HCMC Wednesday morning. Their grandson, Endre Gunter Jr., was among the victims.

“He just had a birthday and was excited to get back to school,” Norris Roberts said. “He liked the environment over there.” The family was happy because he really likes the school, Norris Roberts said as he waited for a report on his condition. “He got shot in the stomach,” he said. “But he’s alive and stable.”

— Rohan Preston

11:25 a.m. - Minnesota state Rep. Emma Greenman, DFL-Minneapolis, represents the area and started getting calls about the shooting Wednesday morning. She called it a “shattering of safety and security” for the community.

She said Annunciation is an important part of the community where numerous families attend church or send their children to school. The church hosts an annual Christmas tree sale, blood drives and community events and games.

This is the second instance of gun violence in the surrounding area since Greenman was elected just five years ago, she noted. A 15-year-old was killed outside South Education Center Academy in Richfield in 2022. “We can’t continue to do this,” Greenman said, “and we need to prioritize our kids and our families and our communities and keep people safe from gun violence.”

— Allison Kite

11:22 a.m. - Dr. Thomas Wyatt, chair of emergency medicine for Hennepin Healthcare, said 11 people were brought to HCMC this morning. Of them, he said two were adults and nine were children. Of the 11, seven were in critical condition. He said four of the 11 required an operating room. He said the emergency room staff received the first page alerting them to a mass casualty event at 8:46 a.m., the second mass casualty alert they had received within 24 hours.

“These incidents are never easy,” Wyatt said.

— Liz Navratil

“During the mass, the gunman approached on the outside, on the side of the building, and began firing a rifle through the church windows towards the children sitting in the pews at the mass. Shooting through the windows, he struck children and worshipers that were inside the building.”

The shooter was armed with a rifle, shotgun and a pistol. Believed to be in his early 20s, the shooter died of a self-inflicted gunshot in the rear of the church, O’Hara said. Two children, ages 8 and 10, were killed in the pews. Seventeen people were injured, 14 of them children. Two are in critical condition.

“This was a deliberate act of violence against innocent children and other people worshiping” O’Hara said.

— Sofia Barnett

11:03 a.m. - Helen Corkran, director of pastoral care at the school, said the new school year began Monday and that Wednesday was the first children’s Mass of the new school year, which typically takes place every Wednesday at 8:15 a.m. and lasts for about 30 minutes. Corkran said the church recently celebrated its 100th anniversary. “It’s a good school. There are wonderful people there.”

— Jeff Meitrodt

11 a.m. - Mayor Jacob Frey and Police Chief Brian O’Hara addressed members of the press and neighbors. “Don’t just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now. These kids were literally praying. It was the first week of school,” Frey said. “Every one of us needs to be wrapping our arms around these families giving them every ounce that we muster. These were Minneapolis families. These were American families,” Frey said.

— Sofia Barnett

10:57 a.m. - Diamond Lake neighbors Mary Faist and Benny Pekala held each other as Annunciation families pulled their children out of the family reunification center at Mount Olivet. They said they heard dozens of shots fired Wednesday morning that made them think there was a gunfight with multiple shooters. They said they were filled with grief and sadness. All morning they saw parents and grandparents running toward the school, they said.

“I don’t know why they (mass shooters) do it. If you have a problem with religion, resolve it a different way,” Faist said. “Seeing little kids walk out, some of them have a lot of blood down their shirts.”

10:55 a.m. - Gov. Tim Walz spoke with President Donald Trump on Wednesday morning about the shooting, according to a source familiar with the call. Trump called to offer his condolences to Minnesotans, the source said, and Walz thanked him for his support.

— Ryan Faircloth

10:51 a.m. - Andy Winchell was preparing to take his wife to work at around 8:20 a.m. when he and neighbors heard rapid volleys of gunfire that he says “went on for a minute, plus.”

”It was very loud, like a ‘bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop,’" Winchell, 42, said. “We were like, ‘what was that?’ There was a long pause, and then all of a sudden you hear sirens from everywhere.”

— Kyeland Jackson

The school, which enrolls students from preschool to eighth grade, touts its commitment to academics, service and Catholic values. Monday marked the first day of classes, and a Facebook post featuring back-to-school photos of the students featured the hashtag #AFutureFilledwithHope.

— Mara Klecker

10:39 a.m. - Kevin Kenney, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, is based at St. Olaf in downtown Minneapolis. He headed over to HCMC after he heard about the shooting to pray with families. He said he had met with at least two families “just to give them some kind of hope in such a devastating situation.”

He noted that some children were waiting to hear how their brothers or sisters were doing. “It’s horrific to think that a guy is shooting school children in a mass,” he said. Many of the families are “in shock, disbelief,” he said, noting that it was the first week of school.

— Liz Navratil

— Louis Krauss

10:32 a.m. - Bill and Alexandra Bienemann have attended Annunciation Church since 2004 and their daughter went to school there for nine years. Bill said he heard 30 to 50 rounds of semi-automatic rifle fire for several minutes from their house two blocks away.

“I know what gunfire sounds like, and I was shocked. I said ‘there is no way that could be gunfire,’ there was so much of it,” Bill said. “It was sporadic … it seemed like a rifle, it certainly didn’t sound like a handgun. He must have reloaded several times, for sure.”

They are in contact with community members who were in the church during the shooting.

— Walker Orenstein

”I am absolutely devastated for our community," she said. “My heart is with the parishioners of the church and the Annunciation students and their families. I know some of them personally and will make myself available to all of them to support them in any way possible.”Mohamed called the shooting “another tragedy in what has already been a painful period for our state and community.””We must all condemn gun violence," she said, “and come together to work on real solutions to prevent future tragedy.”

— Allison Kite

10:15 a.m. - A source confirms to the Star Tribune that two children are confirmed dead, along with the shooter.

— Liz Sawyer

10:13 a.m. - Children’s Minnesota has seven kids in treatment. The hospital said in a statement: “Children’s Minnesota is aware of the recent tragic shooting in Minneapolis. Our teams are trained to respond in times of crisis, and are fully prepared to care for impacted children. Currently, five children are admitted to our hospital for care. We will not share more details to respect the privacy of our patients and families.”

10:11 a.m. - According to emergency dispatch audio, medics reported transporting a 10-year-old boy with a gunshot wound to the head. Additionally, “We have two patients with gunshot wounds to their head in front [of the church]. ... we have a critical [victim] in the rear of the church.”

Amid a sea of police cars and ambulances, families walked out of the school holding hands. One little boy walked between his mom and dad, holding a stuffed animal. A Hennepin County Sheriff’s deputy hugged a despondent parent in the middle of Diamond Lake Road. A little boy, crying and walking away from the scene, was heard saying to his father, “I don’t feel safe.”

— Jeff Day

10:09 a.m. - Young children in school uniforms filed out of the building, clasping hands with their parents and friends. Some did not have shoes on. Minneapolis resident Pamela Smith said this is going to torment these kids for the rest of their lives. She was on her way to the nursing home across the street from the church when she saw “dozens” of law enforcement vehicles rush past. “I’m very brokenhearted. I’m so sick and tired of this. I’m very brokenhearted. Just to know that somebody’s baby was in there, somebody’s mother, father, sister, brother.”

Jason Johnson, a caseworker who works nearby, said the scene is especially gutting to him as a new father of a two-year-old girl. “This is a place where children should be safe.”

10:07 a.m. - The FBI responded to assist law enforcement at Annunciation Church. “This is an ongoing matter,” said FBI acting public affairs officer Alexandria Marsters.

— Allison Kite

10:05 a.m. - Mike Garrity, a nearby resident, said he was walking by when he saw dozens of kids exiting the church, several of whom were bloody with injuries. Garrity said some of the kids appeared to be crying as they exited and that they looked to be about 6 to 9 years old. Another nearby resident, who declined to give his name, said he held the hands of three who had gunshot wounds. One was shot in the neck, he said.

“I feel like the kids, the ones I saw, are going to be OK.”

— Louis Krauss

— Jeff Day

10 a.m. - Jan Unstad was driving through her south Minneapolis neighborhood Wednesday morning headed for the State Fair when she noticed a crush of emergency responders clogging up 54th street outside Annunciation Church and school.

Police squads and ambulances packed the road on both sides, blocking incoming traffic.

“It felt like every member of law enforcement in all of Minneapolis was there,” Unstad said, noting that more were on the way. She observed responders dragging stretchers to the front drive of the church and loading victims, although she could not tell whether they were children or adults. Dozens of frantic parents dumped their cars on side streets and sprinted toward the school, seeking answers about the status of their kids. “It was horrifying,” she said.

— Liz Sawyer

The public was advised to stay away from the area to allow emergency personnel to help victims.

— Deena Winter

9:53 a.m. - President Donald Trump posted on his Truth Social account that he has been briefed on the shooting.

“The FBI quickly responded and they are on the scene. The White House will continue to monitor this terrible situation. Please join me in praying for everyone involved!”

— Ryan Faircloth

— Mara Klecker

9:45 a.m. - An Annunciation parent who was sitting in the back pew at the 8:15 a.m. Mass said students were packed into the pews when a shooter opened fire outside the building with some kind of semiautomatic weapon.

“He just pepper-sprayed through the stained-glass windows into the building, 50 to 100 shots,” said the parent, who did not want his name used. “He killed two kids.”

“This is terrible,” he said. ”This is evil. I don’t know how you defend against this.”

— Reid Forgrave

— Susan Du

9:33 a.m. - According to emergency dispatch audio at about 8:30 a.m., “We just got an update from [police] squads, they want EMS in front of the church for victims. We have at least 20 victims at this point is what they are saying.”

At 9:12 a.m. a first responder on the scene reported: “Right now I do not have any more known patients. All known patients have been triaged and transported.”

At 9:18 a.m. a first responder radioed: “Reunification will be in the basement of the church. ... we have a group, approximately 60 students with parents here, 55th and Lyndale. Fire (department) is coordinating.”

— Paul Walsh

— Paul Walsh

9:25 a.m. - Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said he was “monitoring reports of horrific violence in South Minneapolis.”“I’m in touch with Chief O’Hara and our emergency response team has been activated,” Frey posted on X. “We will share more information as soon as we can. Please give our officers the space they need to respond to the situation.”

— Ryan Faircloth

9:23 a.m. - Star Tribune reporter Sofia Barnett is at the scene of Annunciation Church, where police are escorting parents and children into the school’s basement. People are crying, many were running toward the scene, an officer said there was nothing to update at this time.

— Abby Simons

— Abby Simons

9:20 a.m. - Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said Wednesday morning he had been briefed about a shooting at Annunciation Catholic School.

“The BCA and State Patrol are on scene,” Walz said in a social media post. “I’m praying for our kids and teachers whose first week of school was marred by this horrific act of violence.”

— Ryan Faircloth