Updated: This story has been updated with additional details about the shooter.
Two children were killed and 17 people were injured during a church service to mark the beginning of the new school year at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis.
The shooting, which occurred shortly before 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, is the first school shooting of the new academic year, with the highest number of victims since the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, in 2022.
The shooter, who has been identified as a 23-year-old, shot through the church windows during the service, as dozens of children sat in the pews. The pre-K-8 school鈥檚 first day of classes was Monday, according to a post on the school鈥檚 Instagram page.
In a local Wednesday afternoon near the scene of the crime, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O鈥橦ara confirmed that in addition to the two children who were killed, 14 children between the ages of 6 and 15 were injured by the gunfire. Three adults in their 80s, parishioners of the church, were also shot and injured. Each of these 17 victims is expected to survive, O鈥橦ara said.
Annunciation Catholic School Principal Matt DeBoer said the school鈥檚 teachers acted quickly and heroically during the shooting.
鈥淐hildren were ducked down, adults were protecting children, older children were protecting younger children,鈥� he said during the afternoon press conference. 鈥淚t could have been significantly worse without their heroic action. This is a nightmare, but we call our staff the dream team, and we will recover from this.鈥�
To the school community, he said: 鈥淚 love you. You鈥檙e so brave, and I鈥檓 so sorry this happened to us today.鈥�
Details are still emerging about the shooter. According to , the shooter had filed a court document at age 17 to change her first name, saying that she 鈥渋dentified as female and wants her name to reflect that identification.鈥�
O鈥橦ara said the shooter, who barricaded two doors on the side of the building that she shot through, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The shooter was armed with a rifle, a shotgun, and a pistol鈥攁ll purchased legally鈥攁nd fired all three, O鈥橦ara said.
鈥淭he sheer cruelty and cowardice of firing into a church full of children is absolutely incomprehensible,鈥� O鈥橦ara said.
Kash Patel, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, that the FBI is investigating this shooting 鈥渁s an act of domestic terrorism and hate crime targeting Catholics.鈥�
Annunciation Catholic School, located in southwest Minneapolis, enrolls students in preschool through 8th grade. All students are schooled together on one campus, according to the website. The school is located on the same campus as Annunciation Catholic Church, where the shooting took place.
According to an analysis by Education Week, the 8-year-old who died is the youngest victim killed in a shooting that occurred on school grounds since 2021, when gunfire erupted after a football game at Academy Park High School in Sharon Hill, Pa. That incident resulted in the death of an 8-year-old.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey addressed the community in a shortly after the shooting occurred. In an emotional statement, Frey told community members: 鈥淒on鈥檛 just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now. These kids were literally praying.鈥�
鈥淭hese are kids that should be learning with their friends,鈥� Frey continued. 鈥淭hey should be playing on the playground. They should be able to go to school or church in peace without the fear or risk of violence, and their parents should have the same kind of assurance.鈥�
President Donald Trump said he had been fully briefed on the shooting. He ordered U.S. flags to be flown at half-staff at the White House, public buildings and grounds, and at all military facilities until Aug. 31.
鈥淭he White House will continue to monitor this terrible situation,鈥� Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. 鈥淧lease join me in praying for everyone involved!鈥�
Prior to Wednesday鈥檚 shooting at Annunciation Catholic School, there had been seven school shootings this year that resulted in injuries or deaths, Education Week鈥檚 analysis found.
Including the Annunciation school shooting, there have been 229 school shootings since 2018. There were 39 school shootings with injuries or deaths last year. There were 38 in 2023, 51 in 2022, 35 in 2021, 10 in 2020, and 24 each in 2019 and 2018.
Before Wednesday, the last school shooting of 2025 occurred on May 7 at Thurston High School in Redford, Mich., where a 15-year-old student accidentally shot and injured another student on a school bus.
The Annunciation school shooting is the first to result in a death since March 4, when a 16-year-old was shot and killed after being chased onto school property at Lansdowne High School in Baltimore. It is the deadliest school shooting since three students and three adults were shot and killed at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tenn., on March 27, 2024.
