Minneapolis Police say gunman started firing a rifle through church windows during a mass
Minneapolis authorities said at least two children are dead and more than a dozen were injured Wednesday after a shooter opened fire during a mass at the Annunciation Catholic School.
The attacker, a man who was in his early 20s dressed in black clothing, targeted a mass marking the first week of classes for children attending the school, according to Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara.
“During the mass, a 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. Shooting through the windows, he struck children and worshipers that were inside the building,” O’Hara said. “The shooter was armed with a rifle, a shotgun and a pistol. This was a deliberate act of violence against innocent children and other people worshiping. The sheer cruelty and cowardice of firing into a church full of children is absolutely incomprehensible.
“Two young children, ages eight and ten, were killed where they sat in the pews. Their parents have been notified. Seventeen other people were injured, 14 of them being children,” O’Hara added, noting that “The coward who fired these shots ultimately took his own life in the rear of the church.”
