An extremely tragic event unraveled on August 27 at the Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis in the United States of America, when an unidentified gunman opened fire at the masses that eventually lead to the death of the two innocent children and several others were injured. The incident occurred during a celebratory back-to-school march. However, the gunmen later committed suicide at the premises of the church. The two children who were killed in the incident were eight and ten years old. Among the 17 people injured, 14 were children.
The incident acts as a testament to the gun culture menace of the United States, which is spiking day by day without adequate constitutional or regulatory mechanisms that is ultimately taking the lives of the innocent children and other people. Gun culture of the US is also booming as a weapon in the hands of the teenagers and the youths of the country which is aiding for their behavioural distortion and leading them to illegal and anti-societal paths.
According to the Minneapolis Police Chief Brain O’ Hara, the suspect is described as a man in his early 20s. He arrived at the side of the church and fired with the help of a rifle, shotgun and handgun through the stained glass windows at the congregation. Later, the suspect was found dead in the parking lot of the church, probably because of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The Police Chief confirmed that the gunman didn’t have any notable criminal history. Meanwhile hospitals of Minnesota have also confirmed that the children were wounded because of the gun firing.
While the police authorities have not officially released the identity of the gunman, multiple news outlets including the New York Post, Associated Press with the aid of various law enforcement sources have identified the man as Robin Westman. Minneapolis Police officials have undertaken the investigation and are tracing the identity of the gunman. In this regard, they are scrutinizing a series of videos that were posted online hours before the gun firing incident. These videos that are now being taken down, reportedly had gun magazines and phrases like “Kill Donald Trump” “for the Children”. Other videos also reportedly showed the gunman’s obsession with the previous mass shooters and idealizing them.
During the investigation Police have also found a smoke bomb in the premises of the church, but no other explosives has been found. Apart from the concerns regarding the spiking gun violence culture across the USA, the incident has also spurred concerns about the safety of children in public places such as church and schools, apparently the public institutions where people have to feel more secured.
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