Police and first responders work at the scene of a shooting near Annunciation Church and Catholic School in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on August 27, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AFP
At least three dead, including the shooter, and 17 children were injured in a shooting on Wednesday (August 27, 2025) during the first week of classes at a Catholic school, Minneapolis police say. The children who died were 8 and 10, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said.
Mr. 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 sitting in the pews during Mass at the Annunciation Catholic School.
Mr. O’Hara said the shooting suspect is dead and in his early 20s and does not have an extensive known criminal history.
The Minneapolis city government said the shooter had been “contained” after the gunfire at Annunciation Catholic School and there was no longer any “active threat” to residents.
Governor Tim Walz called the violence “horrific.” Mr. Walz said on social media that he had been briefed on the shooting. “I’m praying for our kids and teachers whose first week of school was marred by this horrific act of violence,” Mr. Walz wrote on X.
Children’s Minnesota, a pediatric trauma hospital, said in a statement that five children were admitted for care. Hennepin Healthcare, which has Minnesota’s largest emergency department, said it was also caring for patients from the shooting.
As police, FBI and other federal agents and ambulances converged on the school, 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.
The school was evacuated, and students’ families later were 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 (August 27, 2025) morning, according to its website. Monday (August 25, 2025) 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.
At a meeting of Democratic officials elsewhere in Minneapolis, Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin noted the shooting and “unknown amount of victims.” 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 on Tuesday (August 26, 2025) afternoon outside a high school in Minneapolis. Hours later, two people died in two other shootings in the city.
Wednesday’s (August 27, 2025) 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.
Published – August 27, 2025 09:16 pm IST
