Multiple Casualties Reported In Active Shooter Situation At Church, School

A gunman killed two children and injured 17 others in a mass shooting at Annunciation Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Wednesday (August 27) morning. The church hosts a school that serves children in grades K-8.

"During the mass, a 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 mess," Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara told reporters during a press conference.

"This was a deliberate act of violence against children and other people worshiping," O'Hara added. 

The two deceased victims were aged eight and ten.

Fourteen of the injured victims were children. Dr. Thomas Wyatt, chair of emergency medicine for Hennepin Healthcare, said that two adults and nine children are being treated at the Hennepin County Medical Center. Seven of the victims are in critical condition.

The suspect, who has not been identified, opened fire from outside the church, firing through the windows. He was found deceased in the back of the church with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. O'Hara said that the shooter was armed with a shotgun, a rifle, and a pistol.

Investigators are trying to determine a motive for the shooting. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the FBI are assisting with the investigation.

Wednesday's shooting follows another one in which one person was killed and six others were injured when a man with a rifle opened fired on a crowd of people across the street from a high school on Tuesday.