The FBI investigates the shooting of the Minneapolis school as an anti-Catholic hatred crime

A shooting in a minneapolis school which left two dead and 17 other injured is the subject of an investigation as a crime of anti-Catholic hatred, according to the FBI.

“The FBI investigates this shooting as an act of domestic terrorism and crime of hatred targeting Catholics,” said FBI director Kash Patel, in an article on X.

The two children, aged eight and 10, were killed when an attacker opened fire through the windows of the city Annunciation on Wednesday morning while the children celebrated mass.

The striker, who died on the scene of a self-inflicted ball injury, was then appointed by the police like Robin Westman, 23.

Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope, was one of those who paid tribute to the young victims, saying that he was “deeply saddened” by the attack.

Police chief Brian O’Hara told journalists: “It was an act of deliberate violence against innocent children and other adores.”

“Cruelty and cowardice to shoot in a church full of children are absolutely incomprehensible,” he said.

Asked about the Patel’s comment, he said that the Minneapolis police department investigated federal agencies – and will continue to be there wherever it leads.

The authorities have not yet published a reason suspected of the attack.

Police began to receive calls from a shooting just before 8:00 am local time (1:00 p.m. GMT) on Wednesday.

The striker approached the church side, which also houses a school and pulled dozens of blows through the windows using three firearms – a rifle, a shotgun and a pistol. The police also found a smoked bomb on the scene.

The authorities investigate if the suspect fired inside the building or if all the shots came from outside the church, noting that no ball envelope was found inside.

“I could hear” Boom, Boom, Boom “,” said Pj Mudd on Wednesday morning, who lives near the church and worked at home. “It suddenly reported to me – it was a shooting.”

He then ran to the church where he saw three magazine cartridges on the ground.

A 10 -year -old boy who survived the attack told the CBS WCCO subsidiary that his friend had saved him from the bullets by sleeping on him.

“I was like two seats in the stained glass,” he said. “My friend, Victor, saved me, because he lying on me, but he was touched.”

“My friend was struck on the back, he went to the hospital … I was super frightened for him but I think now he’s going well,” he said.

The Annunciation church, located in a residential area in the south of Minneapolis, teaches students aged 5 to 14.

The striker’s mother, Mary Grace Westman, previously worked at school, according to a newsletter from the 2016 school. A message on Facebook said she retired from the role in 2021.

Police found a note that Westman had to publish online at the time of the shooting. Investigators have since deleted the position.

The name of Westman was legally changed from Robert to Robin in 2020, according to files from the Minnesota court. In the application, the judge wrote: “The minor child identifies himself as a woman and wants his name to reflect this identification.”

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, the mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, pushed the hatred directed towards the transgender community following the attack.

In their own updates, internal security secretary Kristi Noem said that Westman was a “man, claiming to be transgender”, and in his article on X, Patel described Westman as “male”.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said President Donald Trump and his team have expressed their “deep condolences” and offered aid.

He said that the situation was “too common – not only in Minnesota, but across the country”, adding that he hoped that no community or school had to go through a day like this.

Trump later said that the American flag would be piloted in half-mast in the White House to show respect for the victims.