The first week of school is meant to be filled with hope — sharpened pencils, new friends, and the cautious excitement of a fresh beginning. In Minneapolis, parents had barely adjusted to the rhythm of drop-offs and hurried breakfasts. Children carried lunchboxes, chatter, and dreams. But on Wednesday morning, that fragile rhythm was broken by gunfire that echoed through a Catholic church, leaving behind silence, terror, and grief.

Fox News anchor Bret Baier, a veteran of wars and White House briefings, struggled to hold his voice steady as he delivered the words every journalist dreads:

“But first, breaking tonight. Tragedy in Minneapolis. Police say a shooter fired through a window at a Catholic church this morning. Two children were killed. Fourteen others were injured, along with three adults in their 80s.”

It was the opening line of Special Report, but it sounded more like a eulogy.

The Nightmare No Parent Wants to Imagine

Correspondent Jonathan Hunt, broadcasting live from the scene, spoke words that sent shivers through millions of homes:

“It’s every parent’s worst nightmare. This morning, families sent their children off to only the third day of school, and moments later, received news that there was a shooting.”

Inside Annunciation Catholic Church, where students were gathered for morning mass, peace collapsed into chaos. Shattered glass fell from the windows like rain. Hymns were replaced with panicked screams. Children scrambled under pews. Teachers threw themselves over students.

By the time sirens arrived, two children — ages eight and ten — lay fatally wounded. Fourteen other students were rushed to local hospitals. Three elderly parishioners, in their eighties, were also injured.

The Shooter: A Name, A Mystery

Authorities identified the gunman as 23-year-old Robin Westman, a young man with no prior criminal record, no history of violence, and no obvious motive. His mother once worked at the very school where he unleashed horror.

According to Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara, Westman fired through the church’s stained-glass window before turning the weapon on himself.

“He died of a self-inflicted wound,” O’Hara confirmed. The FBI quickly classified the case as an act of domestic terrorism.

And yet, even with an official label, the tragedy raised more questions than answers. Why here? Why children? And why now — in the innocence of a new school year?

Voices of Grief and Rage

The reaction online was immediate and raw. When Baier posted the somber clip to his Instagram account, thousands poured into the comments with tears, prayers, and fury.

One viewer wrote: “Truly a story nobody wants to hear. Terrible. Sickening.”

Another confessed: “I’m lost for words.”

But some were too angry for silence. “And the coward killed himself,” one user seethed. “Straight to Hell. I hope he suffers eternally. These poor children.”

Others urged caution, demanding that the shooter’s name not be repeated. “We need to stop publicizing the shooters and giving them fame. Just call them a shooter.”

It was a debate that resurfaces after every tragedy — between grief, rage, and the uneasy responsibility of the press.

Leaders Struggle for Words

From the Vatican, Pope Leo sent condolences to the Catholic community in Minneapolis, calling it “a terrible tragedy.”

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey fought to keep his composure during a televised statement:

“There are no words that can capture the horror and the evil of this unspeakable act. A tragic and deadly start to the new school year.”

But his voice cracked. Words, after all, often fail in the face of bullets.

A Nation Too Familiar With Grief

For Americans, the tragedy was heartbreakingly familiar. Schools have become recurring sites of violence, sanctuaries transformed into stages of horror. Minneapolis now joins a grim list of communities forever marked by the phrase: school shooting.

Each incident reopens the same wounds, triggers the same debates, and leaves families asking the same unbearable question: Why my child?

But repetition does not dull the pain. If anything, it sharpens it.

Faith Tested in a Sacred Place

The symbolism made this attack even more brutal. A church, a sanctuary meant for safety and prayer, became a killing ground. The stained-glass windows that once glowed with sunlight now bear bullet holes, silent witnesses to shattered faith.

Parents trusted not only their school but their faith to protect their children. Both were pierced that morning.

The Unanswered Questions

Investigators now comb through Westman’s past, searching for motives or warning signs. Friends and relatives will be questioned. Online activity will be scoured. But the simplest, most haunting question — why — may never be answered.

In its place lies a community grappling with trauma, children waking from nightmares, and parents afraid to send their kids to school.

The Story No One Wants to Tell

Bret Baier closed the night as he began it — with sorrow. “A story none of us ever want to cover in this business,” he wrote.

And yet, once again, America is forced to tell it.

Two children will never come home. Seventeen more will carry scars, visible and invisible. A community’s faith is shaken. And a nation, weary from repetition, must pause once more to grieve the innocent lost.

The third day of school should have been a beginning. Instead, it became a final chapter.