Rockford Diocese mourns loss of children in Minneapolis school shooting

ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — The Diocese of Rockford has issued a statement expressing condolences for the lives lost at a shooting on Wednesday morning at a Catholic school in Minneapolis.

Two young children are dead and more than a dozen others are injured after a gunman fired shots through the windows of theAnnunciation Catholic School in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis during a Wednesday morning Mass, police said during a press conference. The suspected shooter is dead.

Two children, ages 8 and 10, were killed in the pews they were sitting in, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said. A total of 17 people sitting in the church — 14 of whom are children — were injured. According to O’Hara, two of those children are listed as being in critical condition.

Bishop David Malloy, Bishop of the Rockford Diocese, issued a statement, saying, “On behalf of the people of the Diocese of Rockford, I offer my deepest prayers and sympathy, asking God’s comfort and healing to all those affected by the horrendous act of violence at Annunciation Catholic School in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis today. Our hearts break for the victims of these acts, especially for the young students and their families.

“This most recent shooting is not just a tragedy for the school, families, faculty and staff there. It is also a tragedy for all people and yet another senseless assault on the sense of security and the dignity of human life, especially our innocent children.

“We pray not just for an end to such evil acts, but for solutions to their causes,” he said.

The gunman, identified publicly only as a man in his early 20s, was armed with a rifle, shotgun, and pistol, O’Hara explained. He used the rifle to fire shots from the outside.

He said the shooter was found dead in the rear of the church of what appears to be self-inflicted gunshot wounds.

The Nexstar Media Wire and Associated Press contributed to this report.