Tragedy struck in Minneapolis when a gunman opened fire on a Catholic church, resulting in the deaths of two children and injuring over a dozen individuals during the parish school’s beginning-of-year mass.

The victims, elementary school students aged eight and ten, were tragically killed while sitting in their pews during the Wednesday morning service at Annunciation Catholic Church.

The shooter has been named by local TV station KTSP as 23 year-old Robin Westman.  

Dressed in black and heavily armed with a rifle, shotgun, and pistol, Westman fired a barrage of bullets through the church’s stained glass windows, leaving children, staff, and parents inside scrambling for safety.

Seventeen people, including 14 children, were injured during the ‘deliberate act of violence’, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara confirmed.

During an emotional press conference, O’Hara said the ‘coward who fired these shots ultimately took his own life in the rear of the church’. 

Westman had no known criminal history and his motive remains under investigation.

The suspect’s vehicle, which he parked inside the church lot, is being searched by authorities. A ‘smoke bomb firework’ was discovered on premises, O’Hara added.

The gunman opened fire into the windows Annunciation Catholic Church on 54th Street around 8.15am local time. 

Students and staff at Annunciation Catholic School, where classes just started on Monday, were attending mass at the time of the shooting. 

Westman barricaded the doors on the side of the building where he was shooting from by lodging ‘two by fours’ between the door handles to prevent people from being able to escape, police said.

‘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,’ O’Hara said.

‘Shooting through the windows, he struck children and worshipers that were inside the building.’

The chief added: ‘This was a deliberate act of violence against innocent children and other people worshiping.’ 

Police say no casings found inside the church, meaning ‘most – if not all – shooting happened outside building’. The barricades were also on the outside of the church.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said he is ‘deeply saddened’ by the tragedy and vowed to do ‘everything possible’ to support the families impacted by the violence.

‘Children are dead, you cannot put into words the gravity, tragedy or absolute pain of this moment,’ Frey said during the press conference. 

‘There are no words that capture the horror of this unspeakable act.’ 

‘Don’t just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now. These kids were literally praying. It was the first week of school’ he said.

He added: ‘Those families are suffering immense pain right now. Think of this as if it were your own.’

A heartbroken parent who attended Wednesday morning’s mass said the gunman fired ’50 to 100 shots’ as students and staff.

‘This is terrible,’ the parent told The Minnesota Star Tribune. ‘This is evil. I don’t know how you defend against this.’

Dozens of children were evacuated from the church, with one nearby resident claiming many were crying and covered in blood as they were shuffled out.

One little boy who walked away from the Annunciation Church shooting told his father, ‘I don’t feel safe’. 

Another local told the Star Tribune that he held hands with three children who suffered gunshot wounds, including one who was shot in the neck.

Medics on emergency dispatch audio obtained by the outlet reported that a 10-year-old boy with a gunshot wound to the head was being transported.

Additionally the audio said, ‘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.’

Bill Bienemann, who lives a couple of blocks away and has long attended Mass at Annunciation Church, said he heard dozens of shots ring out for as long as four minutes.

‘I was shocked. I said, ‘There’s no way that could be gunfire’,’ he said. ‘There was so much of it. It was sporadic.’

Children were escorted out of the school and church by their parents, who have been permitted to enter the campus in groups of about a dozen at a time.

A reunification zone has been set up near the church so that families can be reconnected.

The City of Minneapolis said there is no active threat to the community.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar told MSNBC that one of her longtime employees had three children in the school during the shooting.

She said the the woman’s daughter, who is in the seventh grade, watched her friends be shot.

‘These kids are doing an all-school Mass and had to watch several of her friends get shot – one in the back, one in the neck,’ Klobuchar said.

‘And they all got down under the pews and she – her daughter, of course, was not shot – but her daughter ended up being the one to tell one of the dads of one of the other kids that his daughter had been shot.’

As police, FBI and other federal agents and ambulances converged on the school, President Donald Trump said he has been ‘fully briefed on the tragic shooting’ and that the White House will ‘continue to monitor this terrible situation’.  

He reportedly called Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to offer his condolences, a source told the Star Tribune.

Walz, who earlier Wednesday morning issued a statement on the tragedy, thanked Trump for his support. 

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem branded the situation as ‘horrific’ and says her department is actively in communication with ‘interagency partners’.

‘I am praying for the victims of this heinous attack and their families,’ she added.

Walz and Frey are actively monitoring the situation.

‘I’m praying for our kids and teachers whose first week of school was marred by this horrific act of violence,’ Walz said in a statement.

Mayor Frey echoed: ‘There are no words that can capture the horror and tragedy of the unspeakable act of evil at Annunciation Catholic Church. Children have been killed, more are injured, our community is shaken. 

‘Right now, our entire city needs to wrap these families in love and support.’

Annunciation Catholic Church and its connected grade school are located in south Minneapolis.

Dating to 1923, the prekindergarten through eighth grade school held an all-school Mass at 8:15am Wednesday morning.

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.

The horrific attack at Annunciation Church is the latest in a series of fatal shootings in Minneapolis in less than 24 hours. 

One person was killed and six others were hurt in a shooting Tuesday afternoon outside a Catholic high school.

Police said the suspect, who escaped in a vehicle and does not appear to have been arrested since, fired around 30 rounds from a high-velocity .223 rifle.  

Authorities say there is no connection between the shootings.

Hours later, two people died in two other shootings in the city.

Wednesday’s school shooting also followed a spate of hoax calls about purported shootings on at least a dozen college campuses. 

The bogus warnings, sometimes featuring gunshot sounds in the background, prompted universities to issue texts to ‘run, hide, fight’ and frightened students around the nation as the school year begins.