‘Beg The Lord For Protection’: Church Shooting That Killed 2 Children Reopens Wounds
(ANALYSIS) In what authorities called an “absolutely incomprehensible” act of violence, a gunman armed with multiple firearms opened fire on a Catholic church during morning Mass on Wednesday – killing two children and injuring 17 others.
The shooter, identified by law enforcement as Robin Westman, approached the side of Annunciation Catholic Church just before 8:30 a.m. and fired dozens of rifle rounds through the church windows. Inside, children from Annunciation Catholic School were gathered for Mass during the first week of the new school year.
Two of them — ages 8 and 10 — were killed. Fourteen more children and three adults — parishioners in their 80s — were among the wounded. Police said the shooter acted alone and turned the gun on himself.
READ: People Of Faith Debate Solutions To America's String Of Mass Shootings
The violence, which is being investigated by the FBI as an act of terrorism and hate crime, at Annunciation Catholic Church forces an uncomfortable truth to the surface: No place is sacred enough to be safe in a nation where firearms are widely accessible and violence erupts without warning.
Until change addresses both access to guns and the culture that normalizes their use in acts of hate or desperation, America’s sanctuaries remain at risk — even during the most innocent moments of prayer.
The implications of this tragedy ripple far beyond Minneapolis. It is the latest — and among the most chilling — examples of how places once considered safe sanctuaries, such as houses of worship, have increasingly become soft targets in America’s ongoing crisis of gun violence.
Pope Leo XIV sent a telegram of condolences, calling the shooting a “terrible tragedy” and saying he was praying for relatives of the dead and injured “at this extremely difficult time” and sent his condolences “to all those affected by this terrible tragedy, especially the families now grieving the loss of a child.”
Houses of worship have historically offered refuge – spiritually and emotionally – but the perception of safety inside these sacred walls has been repeatedly shattered by mass shootings in recent years. From the 2015 massacre at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, to the Tree of Life synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh in 2018, houses of worship are no longer immune from America's gun violence.
“This was a deliberate act of violence against innocent children and other people worshipping,” Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara told reporters. “The sheer cruelty and cowardice of firing into a church full of children is absolutely incomprehensible.”
The aftermath left more than physical wounds. Michael Simpson, whose 10-year-old grandson Weston was grazed by a bullet, gave voice to the spiritual devastation felt by many in the shooting’s aftermath.
“I don’t know where He is,” Simpson said.
The tragedy reignites a series of serious questions that have been ignored for far too long: How can houses of worship better protect their congregants, especially children? What policies — from gun control to mental health monitoring — are necessary to keep sanctuaries from being under siege?
Some churches have already turned to armed security or surveillance systems. Others have resisted such measures, fearing they conflict with the spirit of openness and welcome. But as the country reckons with yet another mass shooting, religious communities may have no choice but to reassess what security means in a world where faith alone is no shield from bullets.
“My heart is broken as I think about students, teachers, clergy and parishioners and the horror they witnessed in a church, a place where we should feel safe,” Saint Paul and Minneapolis Archbishop Bernard Hebda said in a statement. “We need an end to gun violence. Our community is rightfully outraged at such horrific acts of violence perpetrated against the vulnerable and innocent.”
Archbishop William E. Lori, who serves as vice-president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, reiterated his sadness.
“As a church, we are following the tragic news from Annunciation School in Minneapolis with heartbreaking sadness,” he said. “Whenever one part of the Body of Christ is wounded, we feel the pain as if it were our very own children. Let us all beg the Lord for the protection and healing of the entire Annunciation family.”
Clemente Lisi serves as executive editor at Religion Unplugged.