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Police: 2 Children Killed, 14 Children and 3 Adults Hurt in Annunciation Catholic School Shooting; Officials Give Update on Shooting at Minneapolis Catholic School. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired August 27, 2025 - 15:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[15:30:00]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: We are standing by for news out of Minneapolis, where at any moment city leaders and law enforcement officials are set to give an update on the horrific mass shooting at the Annunciation Catholic School.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: That's right. Authorities say that two children, just 8 and 10 years old, were killed, 17 others are injured, 14 of those are kids. According to police sources, law enforcement has identified the shooter as Robin Westman.

CNN security correspondent Josh Campbell is with us now. Josh, what are investigators focusing on to determine a motive here?

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, they've had the name for quite some time, and that's what law enforcement sources have told us. They haven't been in a rush to get that out because they're doing a lot of work behind the scenes, looking at some online information posted that could be linked to this individual.

Of course, we've seen in multiple incidents that oftentimes people will have post writings and things, you know, indicating why in their own mind they believe that they're about to do something. Of course, all of this is senseless. We're talking about a horrific, tragic incident.

But that's going on behind the scenes right now in order to try to paint out, you know, the full picture of this person, also working to determine who was in the shooter's orbit. Did anyone know of anything that was about to transpire? Of course, you know, we've seen in so many of these incidents, I've talked to FBI profilers who say that people often exhibit warning signs well in advance of an actual incident. And so that is what law enforcement wants to focus on.

One thing I want to do for the good of the viewer, because we often hear that, well, what should I be looking out for, you know, within my loved ones that I care for? Here are some of the specific things the FBI profilers tell me could be potential warning signs.

You have someone who's making comments or jokes of threats about violence. Maybe they're talking about wanting to hurt themselves or hurt other people. This so-called leakage, people just, you know, essentially saying what's on their mind. If they have unusual activity, coping with stress, perhaps they're, you know, one person one day, you see their personality change. They start to recede from society, hobbies and other activities that they were engaged in no longer of interest to them.

And then the last thing here, one key thing we often see in so many of these incidents is an obsessive interest with prior attackers. It's not just law enforcement who studies past incidents, but we've seen that oftentimes during the course of investigations of these mass shootings, that people will have their own writings or their own observations about past incidents that may have served as a motivator.

So we provide those warning signs because there's nothing, obviously, that can bring back these, you know, little lives here that were lost. But this is something that people should know. Law enforcement wants people to know that, you know, just because you call law enforcement and you're concerned about some someone, that doesn't mean that that person is going to, you know, quote unquote, get in trouble.

I'm told that that's often a barrier. People think that they're overreacting if they report a warning sign, but they say that is the best way to potentially prevent some type of violence is to speak up, try to get that person help. Obviously, you know, that could help prevent something like we're covering today, just a horrific, horrific act of depravity.

KEILAR: Yes, certainly.

[15:35:00]

Josh Campbell, thank you so much.

Some of the survivors from today's tragic event are in the hospital. They are being treated for their injuries. And we're hearing accounts of the wounded being shot in the neck, in their backs as well.

SANCHEZ: And doctors say some of those patients right now are in critical condition. We're joined by Dr. Ben Abo now, emergency services physician. He has family members who are survivors of the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting.

Doctor, thank you for being with us. Our understanding from police is that the shooter was armed with three different types of weapons, a shotgun, a rifle and a pistol. And I imagine that there are varying degrees of the severity of injury sustained from wounds related to those weapons.

DR. BEN ABO, EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES PHYSICIAN: That's true. You know, the different mechanics behind bullets and calibers and all can have different types of injuries. But you could also have a very deadly wound just from a simple, small 22 caliber as well. So it really depends on exactly where and how close the bullets are flying.

KEILAR: So can you talk to us a little bit about how they've had to approach this? Because we heard the head of the emergency medicine department at the hospital come out and talk about how this requires so many resources. You're talking about multiple systems when you're talking about high velocity weapons here.

Can you talk to us a little bit about what that response looks like?

ABO: Yes. So everything is very multifaceted. Even if you just had one person injured in a motor vehicle accident or a shooting, you have multiple systems involved from the hospital perspective, as well as multiple systems within the body perspective.

Any kind of trauma alert, you have emergency, you have EMS first, you have nurses, you have emergency physicians, you have trauma surgeons, you have the blood bank, you have imaging, then you have the floors and all these different specialties that all come together once they're alerted to anything. And then all of that can much more easily be overwhelmed when you don't have as many resources in a certain area.

When I was a paramedic in Pittsburgh, we had multiple trauma centers, including one dedicated just to pediatric trauma. And so depending on where in the country you are, it can be much more difficult in different areas.

And so we very quickly need to try to triage and do damage control resuscitation and quickly triage who's hurt, what are their needs specifically for damage control and life sustaining measures, and then how we can get -- kind of get everything back to normal as possible from a human biological standpoint.

SANCHEZ: I wonder, Doctor, given that there was another mass shooting just yesterday in Minneapolis, one that saw six people, we understand, transported to the hospital in a similar sort of setup where they're responding to a mass casualty event. What kind of toll does this take on health care workers who are now for a second day not only responding to a mass shooting, but one involving the youngest of victims?

ABO: You know, so and I'm thinking back to even when I was a senior in high school and Columbine and all these things that kind of keep going up. And we're now in the days where we are having to prepare for these types of events all the time. And on a regular basis, not just one time, hey, let's prepare, let's talk about it. We're doing these iterations over and over.

I'm the medical director for a number of services, including SWAT medicine, and even the non-SWAT paramedics and EMTs need to drill and the firefighters and police. We need to drill and do different tactics and different techniques to respond to all the sorts of situations.

And even that alone tends to have its toll, I think. And then you have responders that not only are actually living it over and over, but they might be responding to, you know, taking care of children when they have the children the same age at home or it's in their neighborhood. Everywhere where I work out of my services cover, I feel like that's all home. And if I have anything like that, I feel touched by it.

When I feel -- when I hear as a responder, as a paramedic, as a SWAT physician, that something like this is going on, I think back and it tears open old wounds from December 14th, you know, 12, 13 years ago. So it all takes its toll, just like all of the calls that were all going on.

[15:40:00]

SANCHEZ: Dr. Ben Abbo, thank you so much for sharing your perspective with us.

This just into CNN, FBI Director Kash Patel has just tweeted, quote, The FBI is investigating the shooting as an act of domestic terrorism and hate crime targeting Catholics. We have more on the administration's reaction to this tragedy straight ahead, as we also await a briefing from officials on the ground in Minneapolis.

We understand that Governor Tim Walz is expected to join the briefing, along with the archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis. We're going to bring that to you as we take a look at live images of the setup there. Stay with CNN. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: We want to take you straight to Minneapolis, where we are set to hear from officials after a shooting today that killed two students at Annunciation Catholic School. There is Governor Tim Walz. He is joined by Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, as well as Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota.

Here is Governor Walz.

[15:45:00]

GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN): Good afternoon, everyone. Certainly a day in a news conference that that no one wants to be at. A community behind us, Annunciation Church and school. Committed to academics, service and Catholic values. Filled with the first days of school. Are beautiful children going to learn those values, share with their teachers and their classmates, and instead of that joy and that curiosity, that learning, they were met with evil and horror and death.

And we often come to these and say. It's unspeakable tragedies or there's no words for this, there shouldn't be words for these types of incidents because they should not happen and there's no words that are going to ease the pain of the families today. On behalf of all the people of Minnesota our deepest sympathies.

A wish that any of these words would make what you're feeling now better, but it won't. A place that's founded on community, founded on service, founded on family.

I'd like to give special thank you to the mayor and the team in Minneapolis, Minneapolis Police Department, Hennepin County Sheriff's Office. Minnesota State Patrol, the BCA, so many agencies, our federal partners in the FBI, the first responders and heroic work that's happening now as we speak at multiple medical. Locations, including Hennepin County Medical Center, where most of our children were transported to to receive the life saving care. The thoughts and prayers and the hopes and the support that we need to give them in this moment, too, is critical.

Speaking with all the people here and grateful to our federal partners, Senator Klobuchar speaking early this morning and receiving a call from from President Trump, who was with his leadership team of the attorney general and the vice president, expressing their deep condolences amongst the horror that happened in an offer to provide the support to the folks here in Minnesota of what's needed.

So a lot of cameras here, and unfortunately, we have been through these types of things. They will be gone some point. All of you have to you have to do your jobs. But what happened here today will not be gone.

Minnesotans will not step away. We'll stand with this community. We'll redouble ourselves to do the best we can to understand what we can do to prevent any parent from having to receive the calls they received today. From any school dedicated to children. Having to respond to a situation that, as we said, is unthinkable, but that's all too common, not just in Minnesota, but across this country.

It's Minnesota's day to day. And it's my strongest desire that no state, no community, no school ever experiences a day like this.

So I ask the rest of folks around the country who are watching, keep us in your thoughts and prayers, but also keep us in the thoughts for action. Keep us in the ideas that we can work together. And it's on these days like this, I think, and I hope we can hold on to it. We are unified as a community. Everybody across the country today is part of the Annunciation Parish and they're with those families. With that, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.

MAYOR JACOB FREY, (D) MINNEAPOLIS: Thank you, Governor. Throughout the morning, we have seen this extraordinary Minneapolis family step up in thousands of different ways. People with strength, resilience, compassion and love for the families that have been forever impacted by this heinous act.

We want to make sure that we're doing everything possible for them right now. And I want to give a special thank you. And we are so grateful to all of the faculty and the teachers at Annunciation.

The way that they acted during severe threat and danger was nothing short of heroic.

[15:50:00]

This is a tragic and horrible event that would ever -- should never occur, and it would have been all the more tragic and horrible had they not stepped in at times, perhaps put themselves in danger to protect others. As horrible as this has been, it could have been far worse.

I'm grateful for our law enforcement partners, our police officers in the Minneapolis Police Department and other law enforcement agencies well beyond that step up that answered the call to make sure that they were running towards danger when so many of the rest of us would have run in the other direction. Thank you. We are so appreciative of your service.

To Principal DuBois and your whole team, the ethic that you have showed, the love that you've shown, it's flat out incredible. And at the same time, look, we need to be doing more than talking. It can't just be words. There needs to be action.

And when we have seen school shooting after school shooting, when we have seen churches get shot up by horrible actors, I think the impetus has to be on all of us as leaders to do a whole lot more, to recognize that we've got more guns in this country than we have people.

And it's on all of us to recognize the truth and the reality that we can't just say that this shouldn't happen again and then allow it to happen again and again beyond that. It's on all of us. And I have heard about a whole lot of hate that's being directed at our trans community.

Anybody who is using this as an opportunity to villainize our trans community or any other community out there has lost their sense of common humanity. We should not be operating out of a place of hate for anyone. We should be operating from a place of love for our kids.

Kids died today. This needs to be about them. This needs to be wrapping our arms around these families with every bit of love that we can possibly show.

And I know that our Minneapolis family and well beyond is prepared to do exactly that. And so my message to everyone out there is, again, these families are experiencing some acute pain right now. But don't just think of these as somebody else's kids. Think of your own.

Let's make sure that we're acting now to not just say it's never happening again but ensure it doesn't. Our chief of police has been working tirelessly throughout the day, along with, again, a number of different law enforcement agencies, investigators, federal partners, state partners.

Thank you, Senator Klobuchar, for being here. Been working tirelessly. And I'd like to invite him up to give some more of the details that have come up -- Chief.

CHIEF BRIAN O'HARA, MINNEAPOLIS POLICE: My name is Brian O'Hara, B-R- I-A-N-O-apostrophe-H-A-R-A. I am the Minneapolis police chief. Good afternoon and thank you all for your patience as we continue to gather the facts in this investigation into this truly unthinkable tragedy that happened here earlier today.

I want to make sure that we are providing the most accurate information possible, particularly as we speak around our victims. At this point, we know we have a total of 19 victims from this tragedy. Two were young children, ages 8 and 10, that were sitting in the pews at mass when they were shot and killed. They were pronounced deceased on the scene.

There were another 14 children between the ages of 6 and 15 that were injured by gunfire. There were also three adults in their 80s that were parishioners here attending mass that were also shot in this incident.

The families of all of the children that have been affected have been notified. The coward that shot these victims took his own life in the rear of the church. That coward has been identified as 23-year-old Robin Westman, no prior criminal history.

As to the weapons used to perpetrate this horrific attack, there was a rifle, a shotgun, and a pistol. All three had been lawfully purchased by the shooter. At this stage, we believe that the shooter had acted alone.

[15:55:00]

There is no indication of other suspects directly involved in carrying out this attack.

Our investigators are working with other agencies in the process of executing four search warrants. One is for the church itself where this crime occurred. The other three are residences nearby in the metro that are related to this shooter. Additional firearms are being recovered from those three residential locations as we speak.

We're also aware of a manifesto that the shooter had timed to be released on YouTube. This manifesto appeared to show him at the scene and included some disturbing writings. That content has since been taken down with the assistance of the FBI, and it now remains under active review by our investigators.

We know this community is reeling and is in pain. I want to ensure everyone in our community, this parish, all of the families affected, and all of our residents, that all of law enforcement collectively, local law enforcement in our county, our state, and all of our federal law enforcement partners have been here, and we are all working tirelessly to uncover the full scope of what happened, to try and identify a motive why it happened, and whether there are any other further details.

We will continue to share updates as the investigation progresses. And we remain committed to being as transparent as possible while protecting the integrity of this investigation.

In a moment I will take some questions that I am able to answer, but first I want to bring up the principal of Annunciation School, Matt DeBoer, as well as after him the Archbishop, our Archbishop Bernard Hebda -- Principal.

MATT DEBOER, PRINCIPAL, ANNUNCIATION SCHOOL: Good afternoon everyone. To any of our students and families and staff watching right now, I love you. You're so brave, and I'm so sorry this happened to us today.

Within seconds of this situation beginning, our teachers were heroes. Children were ducked down, adults were protecting children, older children were protecting younger children, and as we heard earlier, it could have been significantly worse without their heroic action.

This is a nightmare, but we call our staff the dream team, and we will recover from this. We will rebuild from this. When we planned for this school year, we intentionally chose a theme from the prophet Jeremiah chapter 29, a future filled with hope. There's nothing about today that can fill us with hope.

We as a community have a responsibility to make sure that no child, no parent, no teacher ever has to experience what we've experienced today ever again. I need everybody to commit those words to your speech patterns -- never again. We lost two angels today, and please continue to pray for those still receiving care.

We can't change the past, but we can do something about the future. There's an African proverb that says, when you pray, move your feet. So I beg you, I ask you to please pray, but don't stop with your words.

Let's make a difference and support this community, these children, these families, these teachers. Never again can we let this happen. I love you, Annunciation family. We're with you, and we will be stronger when this is done.

Archbishop Hebda will be coming next.

ARCHBISHOP BERNARD HEBDA, CATHOLIC ARCHDIOCESE OF SAINT PAUL AND MINNEAPOLIS: Thank you, Principal DeBoer. I'm so grateful that Mayor Frey and the Chief both mentioned how valiant you and your staff were. I'm so grateful to the pastor here at Annunciation, Father Dennis Zehren, for the deacon, Deacon Kevin Kenneally, also were heroic in this time.

But how sad it is, for sure, not only for the families who are directly involved, but indeed for families everywhere who feel the threat that comes from an event, a tragedy like today's. I would never want to correct a principal, but Principal DeBoer said it wasn't so clear where would be the source of hope. And brothers and sisters, we have to be men and women of hope.

Already today, I've been receiving messages from all over our country, promising prayers. And I think it's the prayers of the feet as well, Principal. That is, for me, is a source of hope, just as we see families stepping forward to help those who have been impacted by this terrible tragedy ...

END