‘These kids were literally praying’: Mass-casualty shooting at Catholic church and school kills at least 2 children, 17 others injured

Officials responded to a mass-casualty shooting Wednesday morning at a Catholic church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where at least two children were killed and 17 others injured.

The shooting took place about 8:30 a.m. at the Annunciation Church, which has a kindergarten-through-8th-grade school on the property. The shooter fired from outside the building through a window and shot children and staff members who were attending morning mass.

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara says the shooter who was in his early twenties was armed with a rifle, a shotgun and a pistol. He ultimately killed himself.

“This was a deliberate act of violence against innocent children and other people worshiping,” O’Hara said at a midday news conference. “The sheer cruelty and cowardice of firing into a church full of children is absolutely incomprehensible.”