Authorities say a gunman in his early 20s deliberately targeted dozens of Catholic school children who were attending mass at Minneapolis church on Wednesday morning.
During a press conference, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara said the gunman approached the outside of Church of the Annunciation shortly after mass began around 8:15 a.m. Wednesday and started firing a rifle through the church windows, towards students of the adjoining school and other worshippers sitting in pews.
The shooter was dressed in all black, and he was armed with a rifle, a shotgun and a pistol, according to police.
"This was a deliberate act of violence against innocent children and other people worshiping. The shear cruelty and cowardice of firing into a church full of children is absolutely incomprehensib