Two children — ages 8 and 10 — are dead and 17 other people injured at a Minneapolis Catholic school after an active shooter opened fire Wednesday morning. Fourteen of the 17 injured are children, two of whom are currently in critical condition, according to the Minneapolis Police Department.
The tragedy took place during the first week of classes for Annunciation School, a private pre-K-8 Catholic school with a little over 390 students, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. It occurred while dozens of children were attending religious mass at Annunciation Church, said Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara during a Wednesday press briefing.
During the event, the shooter barricaded some doors to the church from the outside to keep students from leaving as he shot at children and churchgoers from outside the building, through the windows. O’Hara said a smoke bomb was found at the scene.
That kind of "frontal assault" style attack at a school is "relatively rare" according to David Riedman, a school shooting expert who manages the K-12 School Shooting Database. A similar style of attack was seen at the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007, he said.
"Most school shootings are insider attacks (current students) who commit a surprise attack when they are already inside the building," said Riedman in a Wednesday analysis sent via email.
It is unknown whether the shooter — who was in his early 20s and appears to have died by suicide during the attack — was a former employee or student of the school, said O'Hara.
"Don't just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now. These kids were literally praying." said Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey during the Wednesday press event. "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."
The Annunciation Church shooting is the 146th at a K-12 school so far in 2025, according to Riedman's count.
"These school shootings happen in all sizes of communities and in rural, suburban, and urban areas," he said.
School shootings reached all-time highs three years in a row between the 2021-22 to 2023-24 school years, according to Riedman's K-12 School Shooting Database, which tracks anytime a gun is brandished with intent or when a bullet hits school property. The 2024-25 school year then saw a 22.5% decrease in school shootings compared to the prior school year.
There were 254 total school shooting incidents in 2024-25, compared to the nearly 330 school shooting incidents in each of the school years between 2021-22 and 2023-24.
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