MINNEAPOLIS — Mike Garity was walking home from the gym Wednesday morning when he heard a series of loud noises he initially thought to have come from a nail gun on a construction site.
However, when Garity approached the Announcement Catholic Church, he realized something terrible had happened.
Garity, 64, lives across the street from a church and an adjacent Catholic primary school, saw about 12 crying children flow out of the school. At least three were covered in blood, he said in a phone interview.
He saw adults who were supposed to be members of the school’s teachers and staff. “Don’t go there,” one of them said.
Garity soon learned that a person had fired during the morning mass. The suspect, identified by federal law enforcement as Robin Westman, killed at least two children and injured 17 people, including 14 children. Westman died of self-harmed bullet injuries, police said.
Weston Harune, a fifth-grader at the school, told NBC affiliate boyfriend he was shot while his friend Victor was lying on top of him.
Weston said he ran under the pugh while Shott passed through a stained glass window and covered his head. However, students never practiced such training at church, he added.
Harsne’s father, Grant, said the shooter shot a church stained glass from outside the building.
“This was the third day of school,” Grant Hals left the scene and told NBC News. “It’s just a co-ill act. It’s pretty sick.”
Rev. Bob Hart, former interim pastor of the announcement, said violence was virtually unthinkable for him.
“It’s hard to believe this could happen at a Catholic Mass,” said Hart, 77.
Hart said he didn’t know the identity of the victim. But if they were published, he added, he hopes he will recognize many names.
In an interview, a nearby resident said she ran to the cover after hearing the shots ring out. Another was inside her house and told her daughter to enter the basement of their house, fearing that she would be attacked by Ricochette.
Andrew Winchell was on a pouch about a block from the church when he heard the piercing noise that he had mistaken for a nail gun.
“It was this incredibly loud, ‘pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pause, and another ‘pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop.” “They’re home-based father,” said Winchell, a 42-year-old construction worker.
According to ATF sources in Minneapolis, agents of alcohol, cigarettes, firearms and explosives have recovered at least one firearm from the scene and are launching tracking protocols.
It remains to be seen whether the suspect legally acquired a weapon or if he had a widespread criminal history.
Parents and other members of the Announcement community met at church on Wednesday to reunite with their loved ones. The parents wept tears and walked out of school, clutching the child in their hands and resting on their shoulders.
The father of two boys who attend school said he was working when he received a text message from his wife. She said Shot was fired and only one of her sons was found.
“I immediately quit my job,” his father said. “I was a nervous wreck. I was just shocked and believed that this was happening at the time of announcement. I couldn’t get here soon enough.”
He was eventually reunited with both of his boys.
Pastor Erich Ratten, a Roman Catholic priest whose parish is close to the announcement, entered the school to provide support to families seeking to understand the tragedy.
Rutten said he saw parents with “great, great, great anxiety and sadness,” including those who “cry and cry, leaning against the ground.” He embraced those he recognized.
He then began praying for the rosary, and the others joined. “We ask God to help in this situation,” Ratten said.
Natasha Korecki reported Daniel Arkin from Minneapolis.
