MINNEAPOLIS — The Minneapolis Police Department confirmed a 23-year-old person opened fire at a church on the city’s south side Wednesday morning, killing two children and injuring 17 others. 

Police say the shooter died by suicide following the rampage, and there is no longer a threat to the community. Hours after the shooting, law enforcement sources told KARE 11 Investigates reporter A.J. Lagoe that the shooter was Robin Westman. Lagoe also learned that the shooter grew up in Richfield, and their mother previously worked at Annunciation School.

The situation started to unfold as an army of police and paramedics arrived at Annunciation Church, 509 W. 54th Street, around 8:30 a.m., where police reported that a person dressed in black and armed with a rifle was spotted on the scene.  

At a press conference later Wednesday morning, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said the shooter appeared to have barricaded doors to the church before approaching the side of the building and opening fire with a rifle, shooting through the windows directly at children sitting in the pews for a special mass. 

The chief confirmed that two children, ages 8 and 10, were killed in the hail of bullets. Another 17 suffered gunshot wounds, and 14 of those were students. Two of the injured are in critical condition. 

“This was a deliberate act of violence against innocent children and other people worshiping,” O’Hara said, his voice breaking. “The sheer cruelty and cowardice of firing into a church full of children is absolutely incomprehensible.”

O’Hara told reporters that the shooter, who came armed with a rifle, a shotgun and a handgun, did not have a criminal record. The chief acknowledged reports that the mass shooter also had improvised explosives, but said law enforcement found no bombs on the scene.  

Additionally, Westman left a vehicle in the church parking lot, which O’Hara said would be searched along with other locations. 

O’Hara went on to confirm all three firearms were legally purchased by Westman and that authorities have no indication Westman acted with an accomplice.

In a statement Wednesday afternoon, Annunciation Church called the act an “impossible situation” they will “navigate together.”

As the situation continued to unravel, Hennepin Healthcare Hospital confirmed that 10 patients arrived with gunshot wounds, two adults and eight children. Dr. Tom Wyatt said four of the patients from the Annunciation shooting were rushed into surgery. An update said one adult and six of those children were in critical condition. 

Over at Children’s Minnesota, a pediatric trauma hospital, seven students between the ages of 9 and 16 were confirmed to be admitted for care. One of those patients was quickly 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,” the hospital said in a released statement. 

Neighbor Bill Bienemann told KARE 11 that his daughter went to Annunciation School for nine years. He lives two blocks away from the scene and was shocked when he heard a volley of gunfire that went on for what he estimated was three or four minutes. 

“I said, there’s no way that that could be gunfire. There was so much of it. So it was sporadic… it was a semi-automatic, and seemed like a rifle. It certainly didn’t sound like a handgun, and so he must have reloaded, you know, several times for sure.”

Bienemann believes he heard between 30 and 50 shots fired. 

Bishop Kevin Kenney, who leads St. Olaf Catholic Church in downtown Minneapolis, went directly to Hennepin Healthcare Hospital when he heard about the mass shooting to be a presence for victims and their families.

“It was horrific,” Kenney shared about his reaction upon hearing about the shooting. “I grew up in that parish, so it has meaning to me now. But it (violence) shouldn’t be happening. What happened on 8th and Hennepin this morning, Lake Street yesterday, something has got to happen to stop this.”  

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey was visibly shaken as he addressed the violence that unfolded on the south side of his city. Frey begged not just residents of Minneapolis, but people across Minnesota, to support the families that lost children, and those who will struggle to help their kids heal. 

“We are a Minneapolis family, but to everybody out there, do not think of these are just somebody else’s kids. Those families are suffering immense pain right now… think of this as if they were your own. Every one of us needs to be wrapping our arms around these families, giving them every ounce we can muster,” Frey implored. “Stand by them. Love them.”

Governor Tim Walz posted on social media that he had been briefed about a shooting at Annunciation Catholic School, and that agents from the BCA and troopers from the State Patrol are on scene, along with Minneapolis police. 

“I’m praying for our kids and teachers whose first week of school was marred by this horrific act of violence,” Walz wrote. 

The federal government also weighed in throughout the day, including a statement from FBI Director Kash Patel on X, announcing the agency was investigating the shooting as an “act of domestic terrorism and hate crime targeting Catholics.”

Wednesday’s incident is just the latest in a violent 24 hours in Minneapolis. Three people were shot and killed in three separate shootings Tuesday afternoon into early Wednesday morning. At least eight people also suffered gunshot wounds in the incidents.