What we covered here
• A shooter fired through the windows of a church in Minneapolis Wednesday, killing two children. Fourteen other children and three elderly parishioners were wounded while marking the first week of class at Annunciation Catholic School.
• The shooter, now dead, was identified as 23-year-old Robin Westman. Westman shared a “manifesto” on social media that is being investigated, police said. The shooter graduated from the school in 2017.
• The attack is the latest in a string of deadly shootings in Minnesota. It is also the 44th school shooting in the US this year, according to a CNN analysis. It has prompted some Democrats to renew calls for gun control.
Our live coverage of the Minneapolis school shooting is now here.
Catholic school attack was the fourth deadly shooting in Minneapolis in less than 24 hours
The attack at a Catholic school in Minneapolis on Wednesday morning was the fourth deadly shooting the city had seen in roughly 24 hours, according to CNN affiliates KARE and WCCO.
Speaking before the attack on Annunciation Catholic School, police chief Brian O’Hara called the level of gun violence in the city over the last day “deeply unsettling,” according to KARE.
The first was at about 2 p.m. on Tuesday in south Minneapolis, when a shooter killed one person and wounded six others, KARE reported, citing police.
At around 8 p.m. in another location, a shooter killed one man and injured another.
Then at around 2 a.m. Wednesday, a shooter approached a group on a sidewalk and started shooting, killing one and wounding another, WCCO reported.
Minneapolis Police said Wednesday they did not know if the three shootings were connected.
News of shooting interrupted nearby Democratic National Committee meeting
The Democratic National Committee abruptly ended the final day of its summer meeting in Minneapolis on Wednesday after getting word of the deadly school shooting at the nearby Annunciation Church.
DNC chair Ken Martin announced the shooting had occurred “no more than 10 minutes from where we are now” and urged anyone with medical training to help if they could.
The DNC meeting’s closing session, which was scheduled to last three hours, ended after less than 12 minutes. Martin, a native of Minnesota, began the shortened session by saying, “We are heartbroken.”
After a short prayer, the committee voted to unanimously approve all committee reports and adjourn early.
The DNC leader told attendees that Wednesday’s shooting came “on the heels of a tragic year where we already lost our dear friends Melissa and Mark Hortman,” referring to the former Democratic speaker of the Minnesota state House, who was assassinated along with her husband at their home in June.
Democratic leaders opened this week’s summer meeting by honoring Hortman’s legacy. Many Democrats are renewing calls for new gun control measures in the wake of Wednesday’s shooting.
Minneapolis-area elementary school worker says shooting hits too close to home
Em Paulson, a paraprofessional at a Minneapolis-area elementary school, told CNN Wednesday’s shooting at Annunciation Catholic School hits close to home.
“It’s so riveting hearing about any school shooting no matter what profession you’re in, but when you work in a school, it hurts just a little bit more,” they said.
Paulson shared video from one of several vigils were held across the Twin Cities Wednesday evening. The video, from Minneapolis’ Lynnhurst Park, shows residents standing in silence and holding candles while music plays over loudspeakers.
"She thought she was going to die": Father whose daughter survived school shooting
Vincent Francoual, a prominent Minneapolis chef, told CNN’s Laura Coates his daughter, who was in Mass at Annunciation Catholic School, is traumatized after surviving the deadly shooting.
Minneapolis shooting is the 44th such attack on students this year, according to a CNN analysis
There have been 44 US school shootings this year, according to a CNN analysis of events reported by the Gun Violence Archive, Education Week and Everytown for Gun Safety.
That number is one higher than the number of school shootings, 43, that had happened at this point in the year in 2024.
The years since the pandemic have seen a stark increase in school shootings, with 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 all setting records since at least 2008, when CNN began tracking such events across public and private K-12 schools and colleges/universities across the United States.
Of the 44 shootings in 2025, 22 shootings have been reported on K-12 campuses and 22 on university and college campuses.
Minneapolis shooter’s uncle — a former Kentucky lawmaker — mourns “unspeakable tragedy”
An uncle of the Minneapolis shooter has called today’s attack at a Catholic school Mass “an unspeakable tragedy,” according to the Associated Press.
Bob Heleringer, who is a former Kentucky lawmaker, told the AP the shooter was one of his sister’s children. He said he did not know the shooter, Robin Westman, well and last saw his relative at a family wedding several years ago.
“I wish (Westman) had shot me instead of innocent schoolchildren,” Heleringer said.
This post has been updated with more information from AP.
Family of Minnesota state lawmaker and husband killed earlier this year calls for action on gun regulations
The family of former Democratic Minnesota State Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark Hortman, who were killed in June during a series of attacks, said today’s shooting was a “senseless act of violence” and called on elected officials to act on “common-sense measures.”
“We hope this tragedy spurs elected officials to take action towards common-sense measures on access to high-powered weapons so that no one else must suffer.”
Locked doors may have helped prevent an "unthinkable" tragedy from being worse, Minneapolis police chief says
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said locked doors during Mass may have helped prevent an already “unthinkable” tragedy at Annunciation Catholic Church from becoming even worse.
“A number of the doors had been locked once Mass began, which is part of their normal procedure,” O’Hara told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins. “We believe that this step also played a part in ensuring this tragedy did not become that much worse.”
Children also described getting down, taking cover and helping others take cover, as they had practiced before during training drills, O’Hara said. The Annunciation Catholic School handbook notes it conducts three lockdown drills during the school year.
The police chief described law enforcement responding to a difficult scene, with the first officer running in “not wearing a helmet, not with any rifle or SWAT gear” and quickly heading in the shooter’s direction.
First lady Melania Trump says Minneapolis church shooting highlights “the need for pre-emptive intervention”
In a rare statement on X, first lady Melania Trump highlighted “the need for pre-emptive intervention in identifying potential school shooters.”
Trump wrote that early warning signs “are often evident, with many individuals exhibiting concerning behaviors and making violent threats online prior to their actions.”
Minneapolis police chief gives update on the injured children in the shooting
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara gave an update on the status of the injured children tonight.
Two children died in the shooting. Fourteen other children and three elderly parishioners were wounded while marking the first week of class at Annunciation Catholic School.
O’Hara told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins the remaining victims are expected to survive and that some of the children have been released. “A number” of them still remain at the hospital, the police chief said.
“They had a range of injuries. One, I believe, was like a graze wound from a gunshot,” O’Hara said. “All the way to some very, very serious and life-threatening injuries that thankfully they are expected to survive from.”
Shooter had permit to purchase firearms that was issued recently, police chief says
Three firearms recovered from the scene of the Minneapolis shooting had been legally purchased by the shooter, who had recently been issued a permit to purchase firearms, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said.
“I don’t have information about where specifically those weapons were purchased, but they were purchased lawfully,” O’Hara told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins.
Context: In Minnesota, a permit is needed to purchase firearms and also to carry the firearms in public. The state doesn’t differentiate between open and concealed carry.
4 search warrants executed in shooting investigation, police chief says
Local and federal investigators searching for a motive in the deadly Minneapolis shooting have conducted four search warrants at several locations, according to Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara.
“One is the church, and then there are three residences in the Twin Cities metro that are associated with the shooter,” O’Hara told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins tonight, adding that at least one scene is still being processed.
The FBI is helping the Minneapolis Police Department sort through documents that have been retrieved from the scene.
Earlier Wednesday, O’Hara said the shooter, Robin Westman, released a “manifesto” on YouTube that “included some disturbing writings.”
The 23-year-old had a personal connection to the church and school, O’Hara told CNN.
“We believe that the suspect, at some point, was a student here, or a member of the parish, and that a family member here also worked for the church,” O’Hara said.
Fatal shooting at a Catholic church leaves a city in grief. Here’s what you should know about today's tragedy
It was just before 8:30 a.m. when young children were attending Mass at a beloved Catholic school in Minneapolis to mark the first week of classes. Moments later, those students and their families’ lives were forever changed after a shooter killed two praying children and injured more than a dozen other people.
Here’s what you should know:
- The shooting: As people were still filing into Annunciation Catholic School, a shooter dressed in black who was armed with a legally and recently purchased rifle, shotgun and pistol, approached the outside of the sanctuary. The suspect opened fire through the church windows and toward children in the pews. In what officials believe was an effort to create containment, the shooter placed wooden two-by-fours through the door handles of two separate exits of the church, which police say required prior planning.
- The victims: Two children, aged eight and 10 years old, were pronounced dead at the scene, police said. At least 17 people were injured in the shooting, including 14 children and three adult parishioners in their 80s. All of the remaining victims are experiencing various injuries but are expected to survive, police said.
- The suspect: Officials identified the shooting suspect as Robin Westman, 23. The shooter took their own life behind the church and had no prior criminal history, police said. Police believe Westman acted alone in the attack. According to a yearbook, Westman graduated from Annunciation in 2017, and social media posts show that their mother previously worked at the school from 2016 to 2021.
- The motive: Investigators are working to understand what may have driven a shooter. Police Chief Brian O’Hara said Westman released a “manifesto” on YouTube that appeared to show the shooter at the scene and “included some disturbing writings.” They have since been taken down and investigators are reviewing the content to “try and develop motive.” FBI chief Kash Patel said the agency was investigating the attack as “an act of domestic terrorism and hate crimes targeting Catholics.”
- Reactions: Congressional leadership, the pope, religious groups and leaders, sports teams, past presidents, and other prominent officials around the country expressed their condolences following the shooting. President Donald Trump and at least two governors ordered flags to be flown at half-staff to honor shooting victims.
CNN’s Tori B. Powell, Aditi Sangal, Chris Boyette, Elise Hammond, Maureen Chowdhury, Chelsea Bailey, Andi Babineau, Morgan Rimmer, Jill Martin, Samantha Waldenberg, John Miller, Mark Morales, Holmes Lybrand, Barbie Latza Nadeau, Michael Rios, Emma Tucker, Matt Lait, Taylor Romine contributed reporting.
Minneapolis mayor calls for love in the aftermath of Catholic school shooting
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey spoke to CNN’s Erin Burnett about the mass shooting that killed two Catholic school children attending mass in Minneapolis, calling for love rather than hatred in the wake of this tragedy.
Minneapolis mayor thanks school staff who he says used their bodies to protect children during shooting
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey expressed gratitude for Annunciation Catholic School staff, who he said “threw their bodies on top of children” to protect them as a shooter opened fire this morning.
“They did the right thing to protect what could have been so many more children dead,” Frey said of school faculty tonight at a vigil in the community.
He went on to thank law enforcement and first responders across the state “who ran towards danger when so many of the rest of us could have ran in the opposite direction.”
Vigil attendees talk about impact of shooting on tight-knit community
Attendees of the vigil held this evening in Richfield for the victims of the shooting at a Catholic school in Minneapolis spoke with CNN about the impact of the tragedy on the small and connected community.
Annunciation Catholic School alumni Kailee Poling, 27, said she was attending the vigil with her husband and daughter. Poling, who attended the school from first through eighth grades, spoke through tears as she said, “you never think it’s going to happen in your community.”
Paul Hartzheim, 48, said he attended the vigil to be connected to his community in Minneapolis where he’s lived his entire adult life. “This hit me different today… When it’s in your own backyard, it’s different,” he said.
Vigil attendee Rhonda Miska, 45, serves at another Catholic parish said she came to support her fellow Catholics after the tragedy.
Miska said the line into the vigil was wrapping around the building when she arrived, adding: “Clearly this is a testament to the need that we have as human beings to not face challenges alone and to be in community.”
Laura Pueringer, 31, from Richfield, went to Annunciation’s sister school and said she was reflecting on the moments she learned about the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting and 9/11 after today’s shooting, which propelled her to attend the vigil to call for change.
“We are demanding change. Enough is enough at this point,” she said.
US Sen. Amy Klobuchar says a former staffer’s daughter witnessed her friends get shot
US Sen. Amy Klobuchar told CNN tonight that a former staffer’s daughter witnessed two of her friends get shot — one in the neck and the other in the stomach — during the shooting this morning at Annunciation Catholic Church.
The senator said the girl was at the church with her siblings when the shooting took place.
While describing the horrific scene, Klobuchar said there was also incredible bravery and kindness in the moment as older kids made sure to protect the younger children, she said.
Klobuchar said this is a crucial moment for change, saying that children praying during a new school year shows how desperately it’s needed.
“These kids praying in a church, packed into the pews, joyful about their first week in school, their new teacher, and then getting shot through church windows. If that isn’t enough to move people that we have to make some changes in this country, I don’t know what is,” she said.
Vigil underway for Minneapolis shooting victims in Richfield with line wrapping around the building
A vigil for the victims of the Minneapolis school shooting is underway in Richfield, Minnesota, with a line of people spilling out onto the sidewalk wrapping around the building.
The vigil is taking place at the gymnasium of Academy of Holy Angels High School, which was seen packed with people in attendance.
Gov. Tim Walz and Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar are present at the vigil.
Grateful, sad and angry: Parents reflect after their 2 children survive school shooting
One mother, whose two kids survived the shooting at Annunciation Catholic School today, expressed relief that her children were not hurt, but anger at the long trend of gun violence in schools.
The school has active shooter drills “very often,” her husband, Pedro Maldonado, said. About two years ago, Carla Maldonado said she was volunteering and was there when the school had a “lockdown drill.”
Carla Maldonado said when they arrived to the church earlier today, her husband began yelling for their two children.
They were able to reunite with their 7-year-old daughter in the parking lot and later found out their 11-year-old son was sheltering in the basement of the building.
Carla Maldonado said school shootings and gun violence in classrooms is starting to feel like a “broken record.” The mother pointed out that she’s not the first parent to have these kinds of feelings and fears.
“The lives that were lost is too much. One is too much,” Maldonado said. “It’s not OK.”
