“They were praying”: 2 dead children and 17 other people injured in a shooting in a church of a Catholic school in the United States.

Brian O'Hara, Chief of the Minneapolis Police, said the attacker was armed with a rifle, a shotgun and a gun, and that he shot through the church windows before committing suicide.

The official identified the alleged attacker as Robin Westman, 23, a resident of a Minneapolis suburb, whom he described as “cowardly.”

It was a “deliberate act of violence against children and faithful,” he said. O'Hara reported that the three weapons used by the attacker were legally bought and added that he had no criminal record.

The police chief also pointed out knowledge of a manifesto that the attacker had scheduled for publication on YouTube, which apparently showed it at the scene and “included disturbing texts.”

That content has been withdrawn and is still being investigated, he said.

The mother of the alleged attacker, Mary Grace Westman, previously worked at school, according to a 2016 school bulletin in which she was presented as a new administrative assistant of the business office.

A Church publication on its Facebook page indicates that it retired from school in August 2021.

According to the newspaper The Washington Post, The attacker's mother successfully requested to change Robert's name to Robert to Robin in 2021, claiming that she identified as a woman.

Three adults of about 80 years, who attended the Mass, also received shots.

The FBI is investigating the shooting “as an act of domestic terrorism and a crime of hate against Catholics,” said the agency director Kash Patel.

The president of the United States, Donald Trump, ordered that the US flags in the White House and in all public buildings flutter half -mast until sunset “as a sign of respect for the victims.”

A 10 -year -old boy who survived the shooting said a friend protected him from the bullets when he lay on him.

“I was two window seats,” said Weston Halsne to the WCCO station, Affiliate of CBS.

“My friend Victor saved me, because he threw himself on top of me, but was shot,” said Halsne.

“My friend was given on the back and went to the hospital … I was very afraid for him, but I think it's fine now.”

Halsne said that he and other children hid under the church banks and then in the gym until they were told it was safe. His mother expected him outside the Church.

“I was afraid of not seeing her,” he added.

Mayor Frey rejected the demonstrations of hatred against the transgender community and the speculations about the gender identity of the attacker.

“Anyone who takes this opportunity to demonize our community for any other community has lost the sense of humanity,” he said.

The school director, Matthew Dubois, highlighted the “heroic actions” that the teachers took while the shooting was developed.

“The children dodged, adults protected children, older children protected younger children, and as we heard before, it could have been significantly worse without their heroic action.”

The suspect of the shooting would have graduated in 2017 at the same school where the attack occurred, according to a school yearbook obtained by the CNN television network, although that information has not been officially confirmed.

The state of Minnesota, where Minneapolis is located, has relatively strict weapons security laws compared to the rest of the United States.

According to an analysis of the Eventown Arms Security Defense Group, Minnesota occupies the 14th position among the 50 states.

The State requires background verification for the purchase of firearms and permits are needed to carry weapons in public.

The State also restricts access to people with criminal records for violent crimes, serious crimes or domestic violence.

The authorities have not given details about how the suspect of Minneapolis shooting obtained firearms, although he legally had them.

So far this year there have been 286 mass shootings in the US, according to Gun Violence Archive.

The database defines a massive shooting as an incident in which four or more people receive shots, not including the aggressor.

The data show that the number of mass shootings increased during the pandemic, but now it is decreasing again after reaching its maximum point in 2021.

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