Two children were killed and 17 people were injured in an attack on a Catholic church in Minneapolis on Wednesday morning as the pupils of the church’s school were at a mass marking the start of the academic year. The shooter killed himself, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said. The shooting at the Annunciation Church and school is the latest in mass shootings, some of them at educational institutions, plaguing the US.

O’Hara said, “During the mass, the 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”. He said that the shooter, who was believed to be in his early 20s, was armed with a rifle, shotgun, and a pistol. 

Although he did not identify the shooter, the Associated Press said that, according to a law enforcement source, he was Robin Westman. A former police officer interviewed on FOX Live said that Westman had posted threats to President Donald Trump and Republicans on social media. It could not be independently confirmed, nor was it known why he chose a church.