Shooting at Minneapolis Catholic church leaves 2 children dead, 17 other victims wounded

An Aug. 27 shooting during morning Mass at Annunciation Catholic Church in south Minneapolis left two children dead and 17 people wounded — fourteen of them children — police said. The Mass was being celebrated for the first week of school.

The shooter, identified by the Minneapolis Star Tribune as 23-year-old Robin Westman, died at the scene from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. One source told the Star Tribune that Westman’s mother had once worked at Annunciation.

A parent who witnessed the attack told the Star Tribune: “He (the shooter) just pepper-sprayed through the stained-glass windows into the building, 50 to 100 shots, he killed two kids. This is terrible. This is evil. I don’t know how you defend against this.”

Archbishop Bernard Hebda of St. Paul and Minneapolis issued a statement expressing gratitude for the “many promises of prayers that have been coming in from the Holy Father, Pope Leo, and from so many from all around the globe, all praying for the families of Annunciation Parish and School and for all who were impacted by this morning’s senseless violence.”

“I beg for the continued prayers of all of the priests and faithful of this Archdiocese, as well for the prayers of all men and women of good will, that the healing that only God can bring will be poured out on all those who were present at this morning’s Mass and particularly for the affected families who are only now beginning to comprehend the trauma they sustained,” the Archbishop continued. “We lift up the souls of those who lost their lives to our loving God through the intercession of Our Lady, Queen of Peace.”

“My heart is broken as I think about students, teachers, clergy and parishioners and the horror they witnessed in a Church, a place where we should feel safe,” he added. While communities must work to prevent such tragedies, he said, “we also need to remind ourselves that we have a God of peace and of love, and that it is his love that we will need most as we strive to embrace those who are hurting so deeply.”

The Archdiocese said its staff “are working with the parish and school teams to make sure they have the support and resources they need at this time and beyond.”

Auxiliary Bishop Kevin Kenney rushed to Hennepin County Medical Center, a Level I trauma facility, to pray with families after the shooting. He told the Star Tribune that he met with at least two families “just to give them some kind of hope in such a devastating situation.”

He said many children were waiting anxiously for word of siblings. “It’s horrific to think that a guy is shooting school children in a Mass,” Bishop Kenney said, describing the families he’d met with as “in shock, disbelief.”

According to the parish’s website, Annunciation Church, founded in 1922, has been a pillar of south Minneapolis for more than a century. The parish school, run by Dominican Sisters since 1923, once enrolled over 1,100 students in the 1960s. Last year, it served about 340 students from preschool through eighth grade. 

On its Facebook page, the Catholic school declares its mission as “Believing all people need a Savior, we are called to PROCLAIM the Good News, & to offer a life-changing ENCOUNTER with Jesus. As a community of His disciples, filled with the Holy Spirit & loved by our Heavenly Father, we seek to BE CHRIST in all we do.”

The Archdiocese invited the public to a prayer service at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Academy of Holy Angels in nearby Richfield.

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