Minneapolis Shooter Attended School That Was Attacked — Police Say Motive Remains Unclear

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara confirmed that the suspect responsible for Wednesday’s school shooting previously went there.

The shooting occurred on Wednesday morning at Annunciation Catholic School. Dozens of students were gathered in the adjoining church for daily mass to commemorate the start of the new school year. The shooter — later identified as 23-year-old Robin Westman, formerly Robert — fired into the church from the outside with a rifle, a shotgun, and a handgun. Two children were killed, and more than a dozen others were wounded. At the time of writing, two other children remained in critical condition.

Shortly after the shooting, it was reported that Westman’s mother had previously worked at the church. On Thursday, O’Hara confirmed that the shooter was a former student who attended mass there, as well.

“We do know that the shooter did attend mass there previously,” O’Hara said at an afternoon press conference. “The shooter did attend school, and the shooter’s mother was an employee of the parish previously for some time; so obviously there is a connection between that shooter and this particular parish and this school there.”

Despite this connection, O’Hara said that police were still unable to determine the motive for attacking that particular church.

“We mentioned there is a connection to the parish, a connection to the school,” he added minutes later, “but we have not identified a triggering event or a specific grievance against the church that you could point to say this is the reason for why this happened.”

Watch above via CNN