US orders flags flown at half-staff after deadly Minneapolis church shooting

Trump said in a proclamation that all US flags were to be flown at half-staff until Sunday at all public buildings and grounds, military posts, and naval vessels across the country, as well as its territories, possessions and diplomatic and other facilities abroad.

Two children were killed in a shooting at the Annunciation Catholic School in Minnesota early Wednesday, according to the Minneapolis police chief.

“Two young children, ages 8 and 10, were killed where they sat in the pews,” Brian O’Hara told reporters near the scene of the shooting.

“Seventeen other people were injured, 14 of them being children. Two of those children are in critical condition,” said O’Hara.

The shooter “ultimately took his own life in the rear of the church,” he said, adding that the suspect, in his early 20s, acted alone.

The suspect was identified as Robin Westman, 23, according to FBI Director Kash Patel, who said the shooting was being treated as an “act of domestic terrorism and hate crime targeting Catholics.”

“There were 2 fatalities, an 8-year-old and a 10-year-old. In addition, 14 children and 3 adults were injured,” Patel wrote on US social media company X.

Footage on social media ostensibly from a YouTube channel run by Westman showed a roughly 1,000-word note left to the family of “Robin M Westman,” recounting suicidal and potentially violent thoughts.

The videos also show an unseen figure, assumed to be Westman, brandishing firearms and ammunition, including a pistol, shotgun and a rifle, which police said were the weapons used Wednesday.

Gov. Tim Walz confirmed the incident on social media, saying the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and State Patrol were on the scene. “I’m praying for our kids and teachers whose first week of school was marred by this horrific act of violence,” he said.