At least two children were killed, and 17 others were injured in a shooting that occurred Wednesday morning during the first week of classes at a Minneapolis Catholic school.
The shooting happened during Mass at Annunciation Catholic School. Monday had been the first day of classes. Of the 17 injured, police said 14 were children. Two of those children were in critical condition.
The two children who were killed were 8 and 10 years old, officials said. Authorities have not released the identities of the victims, but said the children who were killed were fatally shot while they were in the church pews celebrating Mass.
It is unclear how many people were inside the church at the time.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara said the shooter - armed with a rifle, shotgun and pistol - approached the side of the church and shot through the windows toward the children inside before killing himself in the parking lot.
He said the shooter was in his early 20s, did not have an extensive known criminal history and acted alone. He did not release more details.
A law enforcement official told The Associated Press authorities have identified the shooter as Robin Westman. That official was not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Former Kentucky state lawmaker Bob Heleringer told The Associated Press he is Westman's uncle, but had not seen him in a few years.
"He was my nephew, and I wish he had shot me instead of innocent schoolchildren," Heleringer said during a phone interview. "I barely knew him. They (Robin's family) never lived in Louisville. They lived in Minnesota."
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 it.
Students' families were being directed to a "reunification zone" at the school.
Dating to 1923, the pre-kindergarten through eighth-grade school had an all-school Mass scheduled at 8:15 a.m. Wednesday morning, according to its website. Monday was the first day of school. Recent social media posts from the school show children smiling at a back-to-school event, holding up summer art projects, playing together and enjoying ice pops.
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 Tuesday afternoon outside a high school in Minneapolis. 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 U.S. 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.
