Two elementary school children, 8 and 10, were killed when a gunman stormed a Catholic church in Minneapolis and opened fire as the parish school was holding its start-of-year mass

Shooter, identified as a 23-year-old a local resident who identified as a woman, having officially changed her name from Robert to Robin Westman in 2020

Armed with a rifle, a shotgun and a handgun, Westman stormed Annunciation Catholic Church on 54th Street around 8:30am Wednesday

Students and faculty at Annunciation Catholic School, where classes just started on Monday, were in mass at the time of the shooting

Dressed in all black Westman sprayed semiautomatic gunfire through the stained glass windows at Annunciation Catholic Church this morning killing two and injuring 17, including 14 students

Westman died at the scene of a self-inflicted gunshot wound

At least two children have been killed after a gunman sprayed bullets through the stained glass windows at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis on Wednesday morning. 14 students were injured

Two children have been killed after a gunman stormed a Catholic church in Minneapolis and opened fire as the parish school was holding its start-of-year mass.
The elementary school students, aged eight and 10, were murdered as they were sat in pews during the Wednesday morning service at Annunciation Catholic Church.
The shooter, dressed in all black and reportedly armed with a semiautomatic rifle and a handgun, shot indiscriminately through the stained glass windows at Annunciation Catholic Church this morning during service.

The gunman identified as 23-year-old Robin Westman, killed two children and injured at least 17 others, including 14 children who were attending morning Mass at a Catholic school in Minneapolis.
An ominous video just surfacing and believed to have been posted by Westman shows the statements, “kill Donald Trump” and “for the children” scrawled on gun magazines.
The gunman shot through the stained glass windows of Annunciation Catholic Church during a school year opening Catholic Mass filled with children.
Westman, a local resident who had a name change in 2020 and identified as a woman, died at the scene of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, law enforcement sources said.
According to one parent who attended the Mass the gunman fired ’50 to 100 shots’ as students and staff were sat in pews and ‘killed two kids’.
‘This is terrible,’ the parent said. ‘This is evil. I don’t know how you defend against this.’
Minnesota state troopers, local police, FBI agents, SWAT officers, paramedics and a large number of ambulances are currently at the scene.
Seventeen people, including 14 children, were injured during the ‘deliberate act of violence’, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara confirmed.

Anguished parents comfort one another as they await news of their children’s welfare in the wake of gunman going on rampage at Annunciation Church and school in Minneapolis on Wednesday morning

Police are investigating whether a series of YouTube videos shared on an account hours before the shooting was connected to Westman.
In one video, a hand slowly turns the pages of a red notebook, which is laid out on top of what appears to be schematic gun diagrams, as well as diary entries written in English and Russian. Each page is filled with inscrutable handwritten scrawl, an occasional plume of smoke is seen from the bottom of the screen as the person turning the pages coughs, occasionally letting out a maniacal giggle.

Law enforcement is investigating if this arsenal screenshot from a YouTube video is possibly connected to school shooter Robin Westman

In one scene from the Youtube videos, a hand hand slowly turns the pages of a red notebook, which is laid out on top of what appears to be schematic gun diagrams. This video also shows diary entries written in both English and Russian

Robin Westman identified as a woman, and court documents show she changed her name to Robin from Robert in 2020. Her multiple page manifesto uploaded just hours before her murder-suicide speaks of the anguish and depression she suffered through life

Partial excerpt of a letter Robin Westman posted on social media, addressed to family and friends on, listing his pain while apologizing for turning out the way he did

Before signing off Westman stated that he had recently decided to end his inner turmoil with one final terminal action

In the video uploaded to Youtube on Wednesday morning, The manifesto begins, “I don’t expect forgiveness … I do apologize for the effects my actions will have on your lives.”
He explains “I was corrupted by this world and have learned to hate what life is.”
He said he had been suicidal for a while, ultimately deciding to take consequential action to end it all.
Students at Annunciation Catholic School, where classes just started on Monday, were in mass at the time of the shooting.
Westman who in his early 20s, reportedly stormed Annunciation Catholic Church on 54th Street around 8:30am local time, when students and faculty were sitting in the pews for mass.
Police said he fired dozens of rounds from outside the church and shot from all three weapons. 
A smoke bomb ‘firework’ found on premises, Chief O’Hara said.
The gunman’s motive remains under investigation as his vehicle, which he parked inside the church lot was being searched as part of the investigation.

A weeping parent embraces her traumatized daughter after being evacuated from Wednesday morning’s mass shooting Annunciation Catholic Church and school in Minneapolis, MN

The injured students were transported to several nearby hospitals.
Children’s Minnesota, a pediatric trauma hospital, said in a statement five children were admitted for care, while Hennepin Healthcare, with Minnesota’s largest emergency department, confirmed it they were also caring for patients from the shooting.
Witnesses report seeing dozens of crying children, some covered in blood, being evacuated from the church, three children had suffered gunshot wounds, including one who was shot in the neck.

With the situation contained parents were permitted to enter the campus in groups of about a dozen at a time. They were seen escorting their children out of the school and church

As parents turned up to connect with the beleaguered children a father is seen holding hands with his son during the evacuation of students and faculty at the Annunciation Church and after a mass shooting Wednesday morning

Police chief O’Hara described the gunman’s actions as : ‘A deliberate act of violence against innocent children and other people worshiping.’  He allegedly barricaded the doors with ‘two by fours’ to prevent people from being able to escape.
‘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.’
No casings found inside the church, meaning that ‘most, if not all, shooting happened outside building,’ Police said.

The gunman killed two children and injured 17 others, including 14 children after opening fire through the stained glass windows of Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis, MN, on Wednesday morning

A shaken Minneapolis mom in a tight embrace after being reunited following the shooting at the elementary school earlier today

The City of Minneapolis said there is no active threat to the community and the shooter at Annunciation Church has been contained.
‘There is an active police situation at Annunciation Church, 509 W. 54th St. There is no active threat to the community at this time. The shooter is contained,’ the city said on X.
‘Stay away from the area to allow emergency personnel to help victims – W. 54th Street between Lyndale and Nicollet Ave.’
Law enforcement were later seen at the suspect’s family home. For hours on South 1st Avenue blocked off at East 57th Street, less than a mile from the crime scene.

State troopers, local police, FBI agents, paramedics and a large number of ambulances converge on the scene after an active shooter situation was reported at Annunciation Catholic Church on 54th Street in Minneapolis

Law enforcement secure the perimeters of Annunciation Church in Minneapolis. Authorities have not confirmed if today’s shooting has any connection with yesterday’s shooting near a Catholic high school in south Minneapolis.

Authorities have not confirmed if today’s shooting has any connection with yesterday’s shooting near a Catholic high school in south Minneapolis. The shooter fired around 30 rounds from a high-velocity .223 rifle. One of the seven people shot in that incident was killed
Police said the suspect, who escaped in a getaway vehicle appears to be still at large.