Minneapolis school shooting: 2 dead, 17 injured

An 8-year-old and a 10-year-old died and 17 other people were injured in a shooting on Wednesday morning at Annunciation Catholic School in the city of Minneapolis, the U.S. state of Minnesota.

Before 8:30 a.m. local time, the shooter, armed with a rifle, a shotgun and a pistol, approached the school church and fired through the windows at the children who were sitting in the pews during Mass, Minneapolis police chief Brian O'Hara said at a news conference.

The shooter then killed himself in the rear of the church, O'Hara confirmed. The suspect was in his 20s and did not have an extensive criminal history, he said.

Among the injured, 14 are children, with two of them in critical condition, police said. The school is for kindergarten through eighth-graders.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz expressed support for the school community in a statement on the social media platform X: "I'm praying for our kids and teachers whose first week of school was marred by this horrific act of violence."

"Minnesota is heartbroken," said the governor, urging people to hug their kids.

Hours after the shooting, U.S. President Donald Trump signed a proclamation lowering the flags to half-staff in honor of the victims.

"I have been fully briefed on the tragic shooting in Minneapolis, Minnesota," said Trump on Truth Social, adding that the FBI quickly responded and is on the scene, while the White House will continue to monitor the situation.

A total of 286 mass shootings have occurred in the United States so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as an incident in which four or more people, excluding the perpetrator, are shot or killed.