There was no immediate information on any injuries but Governor Tim Walz called the Wednesday morning (late night AEST) shooting “horrific”.

The Minneapolis city government said the shooter had been “contained” after the gunfire at the Annunciation Church’s school, and there was no “active threat” to residents.

Walz said on social media that he had been briefed on the shooting.

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

A person answering the phone at Annunciation School said students were being evacuated.

As police, FBI and other federal agents and ambulances converged on the school, a person answering the phone there said students were being evacuated.

A spokesperson for Hennepin Healthcare, which has Minnesota’s largest emergency department, said in a text message that it was actively dealing with an emergency and provided no additional details.

A social media post from the company said it was caring for patients from the shooting.

US President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post that he was briefed on the “tragic shooting” and that the White House would continue to monitor the situation.

The pre-kindergarten through eighth grade school had an all-school Mass scheduled at 8.15am (11.15pm AEST), according to its website.

Monday was the first day of school, and social media photos from that day show students in green uniforms greeting each other at bicycle racks, smiling for the camera and sitting together.

At a meeting of Democratic officials elsewhere in Minneapolis, Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin noted the shooting and “unknown amount of victims”.

The gunfire was the latest in a series of fatal shootings in the city in less than 24 hours.

One person was killed and six others were hurt in a shooting on Tuesday outside a high school in Minneapolis. Hours later, two people died in two other shootings in the city.