MINNEAPOLIS — Two children were killed and 17 other people were wounded on Wednesday at a Minneapolis Catholic school when a shooter dressed in black opened fire on students attending Mass on the third day of school, authorities said.

The assailant fired through the windows at students sitting in pews and entering the church and then killed himself, officials said. Two students, 8 years old and 10 years old, were pronounced dead at the scene, they said.

“This was a deliberate act of violence against innocent children and other people worshiping. The sheer cruelty and cowardice of firing into a church full of children is absolutely incomprehensible,” Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara told reporters.

The shooting was one of the first signs that the epidemic of gun violence at U.S. schools in recent years has not abated as the fall semester opens.

It also shows the difficulty that authorities face in stopping such shootings, even though new technologies, screening techniques and policing protocols have been developed over the years to prevent recurrences. The shooter in Minneapolis was able to avoid safeguards against intruders entering the school by targeting children through the windows of a nearby church.

Officials identified the attacker as Robin Westman, 23. Officials referred to the assailant as a male at news conferences. Court records show Westman’s name was changed from Robert in 2020 on the grounds that Westman identified as female.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said the incident should not be used as an excuse to persecute other transgender people. “Anybody who is using this as an opportunity to villainize our trans community, or any other community out there, has lost their sense of common humanity,” he said at a news conference.

The shooting at Annunciation Catholic School, a private elementary school with about 395 students, was the 146th such incident in the country since January, according to the K-12 School Shooting Database. The steady drumbeat of shootings has prompted new safety measures and provided grist for ongoing debates about gun laws.

Officials said the shooter fired dozens of rounds, using a rifle, a shotgun and a pistol, which were all purchased legally. They said they had recovered additional firearms at other residences connected to Westman. Police vehicles were stationed at a house identified by public records as Westman’s residence, several miles south of the school.

Two Church Doors Barricaded From the Outside

At least two of the church doors had been barricaded from the outside using wooden planks, O’Hara said.

Local hospitals said they were treating 14 children and two adults, with many suffering gunshot wounds. All were expected to survive, O’Hara said.

Fifth grader Weston Halsne told CBS News his friend was hit by a bullet while trying to protect him.

“The shots were like, right next to me,” Halsne said. “I think I got like gunpowder on my neck.”

Public records showed Westman’s mother, Mary Westman, had worked as an administrative assistant at Annunciation Church. Relatives contacted by Reuters declined to comment.

Officials said Westman did not have a criminal record and appeared to have acted alone. They said they did not know of a motive for the crime.

FBI Director Kash Patel said the case was being investigated as an act of domestic terrorism and a hate crime targeting Catholics.

Law enforcement officials said they were examining an online manifesto posted by Westman that has since been taken down.

Online videos reviewed by Reuters show notes in which the shooter discusses feelings of depression and a desire to carry out a mass shooting. Names of previous school shooters are scrawled on a rifle magazine, along with a series of erratic and wide-ranging political complaints.

U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the U.S. flag to be flown at half-staff nationwide as a sign of mourning.

Authorities said the attack did not appear to be related to three other shootings over the past 24 hours in Minneapolis, including one at a Jesuit high school.

Minneapolis has experienced a significant rise in homicides following the 2020 police killing of George Floyd, which prompted nationwide civil disturbances and staffing shortages in the city’s police department.

Minnesota also experienced an outburst of political violence in May, when a gunman posing as a police officer killed the Democratic state House speaker and her husband and wounded a Democratic state senator and his wife, in what authorities said were targeted assassinations. The suspect has pleaded not guilty to federal murder charges.

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(Reporting by Jana Winter, Brendan O’Brien, Andy Sullivan, Andrew Hay, Rich McKay and Brad Brooks ; Writing by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Frank McGurty and David Gregorio)