This is a developing story. Last updated Aug. 28 at 12:45 p.m.

“I am so sorry this happened to us today,” Annunciation Catholic School Principal Matt DeBoer said to a gathering of press on Wednesday afternoon.

That morning, Annunciation students were gathered in their church for morning Mass. By 8:30 a.m., Annunciation Church had become the site of a mass shooting.

According to police reports, a 23-year-old shot 20 people from outside of the church, killing two children and injuring 18 others. Those killed were 8 and 10 years old. Fifteen of the injured are ages 8 to 15 and three are in their 80s. The latest injury report came out Thursday morning.

All 18 gunfire victims are expected to survive, according to Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara.

“We know this community is reeling and is in pain,” O’Hara said at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon.

Around noon on Wednesday, Annunciation Catholic School student Weston Halsne crossed the street with his brother and grandpa in front of the news media. Weston, age 10, told surrounding media that his friend Victor saved him by laying on top of him during the gunfire. Victor was shot but survived.

Community response

“All of our clients, their kids go here,” Michelle Henry, a community member and employee of The Brow Studio across the street from the church said. “This is our community.”

As the morning wore on, employees at local businesses along 54th Street started offering first responders food and drinks. The cornerszide Starbucks became a law enforcement-only zone.

Henry was handing out water to first responders who walked by and thanked people for their service.

Six blocks north on Lyndale Avenue, Knox Presbyterian Church advertised a prayer service for Annunciation Church for Wednesday night. A yard sign reading “Space for prayer,” pointed towards the church’s entrance.

Pastor Caitlyn Stenerson sat at the entrance to the church, the doors wide open, to welcome anyone who needed a place to go to process the mass shooting.  

“God invites us to come as we are,” Stenerson said, who offered her crisis chaplain services to the Minneapolis Police Department earlier in the day. “We want to join in the grieving.”

The relatively quiet neighborhood was recently impacted by gun violence when a well-known employee at the 54th and Lyndale Kowalski’s, Justin “Juice” Marshall, was shot and killed in Whittier. No arrests have been made in that case, nor a mass shooting that happened on Tuesday when one person was killed and six others injured on Minneapolis’ south side.

Area school orientations planned for Wednesday evening were cancelled and rescheduled for later in the week.

A vigil for the Annunciation Church and School was held at 8 p.m. Wednesday at Lynnhurst Park. Hundreds of people gathered around a baseball field where state and local elected officials spoke about the need for action, not just thoughts and prayers.

“Don’t just say this is about thoughts and prayers,” Mayor Jacob Frey said at a press conference earlier in the day. “These kids were literally praying.”

Frey remained firm in his messaging about gun violence at the vigil. “Don’t let anyone tell you that it’s not about guns, because it is. When you have more guns than people in America, you got a problem.”  

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said he wanted a federal ban on assault rifles.

“When we used to ban assault rifles, we used to keep a lot more people alive then we do now,” Ellison said. “We need to think about banning these weapons of war.”

The shooter brought a rifle, shotgun, and pistol to Annunciation Church, according to O’Hara.

Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan offered words of comfort and action as the sounds of crying weaved through the somber crowd, many holding candles.

“Know that the antidote in this moment to the evil that we saw this morning and that we saw yesterday and that we continue you see is a radical love that calls for justice,” Flanagan said. “A radical love that says, we need to love our babies and our children more than our guns.”

The shooter

O’Hara identified the shooter as Robin Westman on Wednesday afternoon. Westman died by suicide at the scene of the shooting.

The three guns Westman used to carry out the mass shooting were purchased legally and recently, according to O’Hara.

Resources

Monetary donations are being collected to help the families of Annunciation Church and Catholic School. The Minneapolis Foundation has established a text-to-donate line. The public can text ACF1 to 41444. The Catholic Community Foundation of Minnesota is running the Annunciation Hope and Healing Fund to support the Annunciation Church community. The Uvalde Foundation For Kids is collecting money for the two families who lost their children in the shooting under the “Minneapolis Church Shooting” fund.

Memorial Blood Centers are seeking blood donations to address a critical blood inventory shortage in the Twin Cities.

Details for funerals of the two children are not public at the time of publication.

If you are in need of support, these 24/7 support services are available:

Hennepin County’s Family Response Service: call 612-979-9511

Hennepin County’s Cope: mobile crisis response: call 612-596-1223

Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: call or text 988

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741 or text AYUDA for help in Spanish