Shooter “contained” after gunfire at Annunciation Catholic School; officials say no further active threat.
Children admitted to Children’s Minnesota trauma center and Hennepin Healthcare for treatment.
Incident follows deadly shootings across Minneapolis in past 24 hours, heightening fears at start of school year.
In a school shooting at a Minneapolis Catholic school, at least five children were killed. The Governor, Tim Walz, has described the violence on Wednesday as “horrific”.
According to AP, the Minneapolis city government said the shooter had been “contained” after the gunfire at Annunciation Catholic School, and there was no longer any “active threat” to residents.
Taking to X, Walz wrote that he had been briefed on the shooting. “I’m praying for our kids and teachers whose first week of school was marred by this horrific act of violence,” Walz wrote on X.
Five children were admitted for treatment, according to a statement from the pediatric trauma hospital, Children's Minnesota. Patients from the shooting were also being treated at Hennepin Healthcare, which operates the biggest emergency room in Minnesota.
According to a statement from Children's Minnesota, a pediatric trauma centre, five children were admitted for treatment. Hennepin Healthcare, which runs Minnesota's largest emergency room, was also treating patients from the shooting.
President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post that he was notified of the "tragic shooting" and that the White House will continue to monitor it.
After the school was evacuated, the families of the students were then sent to a "reunification zone" on campus.
According to AP, the pre-kindergarten through eighth-grade school had an all-school Mass scheduled at 8:15 a.m. Wednesday morning, according to its website. Monday was the first day of school. Recent social media posts from the school show children smiling at a back-to-school event, holding up summer art projects, playing together and enjoying ice pops.
The massacre and "unknown amount of victims" were mentioned by Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin during a meeting of Democratic officials in Minneapolis.
The gunfire was the latest in a series of fatal shootings in the city in less than 24 hours. One person was killed, and six others were hurt in a shooting on Tuesday afternoon outside a high school in Minneapolis. Hours later, two people died in two other shootings in the city.
Wednesday’s school shooting also followed a spate of hoax calls about purported shootings on at least a dozen U.S. college campuses. The bogus warnings, sometimes featuring gunshot sounds in the background, prompted universities to issue texts to “run, hide, fight” and frightened students around the nation as the school year begins.
