Minneapolis Catholic schoolchildren listened to a prayer, then ducked for cover from gunfire

MINNEAPOLIS AP In the vaulted church of a Catholic school in Minneapolis the pews were packed with teachers parents and schoolchildren listening to a psalm on the third day of the new school year For you darkness itself is not dark and night shines as the day a church member read to selected students Wednesday morning as sun streamed through stained glass windows Just before the congregants were to proclaim Alleluia bullets blasted through the windows Down Everybody down someone shouted as children ducked for cover behind wooden pews from a barrage of gunfire One apprentice threw himself on top of a friend and was shot in the back A youth minister called her husband to say goodbye as bullets flew People used a wood plank to barricade a door and fled to a gymnasium Sixth grader Chloe Francoual raced down a set of stairs and left behind a classmate in the rush before hiding in a room with a table barricading the door She d later tell her father that she thought she was going to die The shooting went on for several minutes according to a man living near the church who announced he heard as a great number of as shots Two children and were killed in the latest horrific school shooting in the United States this time inside a church emblazoned with the words This is the house of God and the Gate of Heaven Seventeen others were wounded including kids as young as and parishioners in their s Dozens of law enforcement officers soon arrived to the school Police noted the suspect Robin Westman was determined dead by suicide behind the church Westman had been a aspirant and member of the Annunciation church in the past and his mother worked for the parish Minneapolis police chief Brian O Hara mentioned on NBC s IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES show Thursday No motive has been revealed Saved by a friend The attendee whose friend had shielded him fifth grader Weston Halsne informed reporters in the aftermath outside the church that he sat just a meager feet from the windows shattered by the blasts My friend Victor like saved me though because he laid on top of me the -year-old explained He s really brave and I hope he s good in the hospital His mother met him outside wrapping him in a hug Fourteen of the wounded casualties were kids ranging in age from to Police revealed all are expected to survive Vincent Francoual noted his daughter still struggles to communicate clearly about the traumatizing scene her father declared It s too much to process he mentioned Outside the church and school was a milling of emotion Parents embraced children and other parents Heavily armored law enforcement officers walked around as police cordoned off the crime scene A close society shaken by violence Plenty of knew each other well It s a tight-knit group built around the century-old Catholic school and parish a city suburb better described as a small town It s towering belfry rings over the neighborhood of tidy homes and grass lawns as it did after the shooting Wednesday God wasn t far from people s minds Various had questions others sought peace and healing I m just asking God Why right now It s little kids revealed Aubrey Pannhoff a learner at a nearby Catholic school who stood at the edge of the police cordon History s first American Pope Leo XIV commented he was praying for the families of those dead and injured in the terrible tragedy The Rev Dennis Zehren was to give a sermon to the congregation that Wednesday At the vigil held later that night his face and eyes were red against his white vestments When inquired what he planned to tell the students on their first week of school emotion choked his voice At the vigil Archbishop Bernard Hebda addressed various people where psalms were sung and the silences burrowed deep in the wide room I can understand why someone could resonate with the Psalmist s question Why oh God have you forgotten me Hebda stated The example of Mary a mother and a disciple who knew great suffering in her own life should give each of us courage and hope Associated Press reporter Safiyah Riddle contributed from Montgomery Alabama The post Minneapolis Catholic schoolchildren listened to a prayer then ducked for cover from gunfire appeared first on MinnPost