The mass shooting overnight in Minneapolis at the Annunciation Catholic Church has been the 146th school shooting this year, labelled as domestic terrorism by the FBI in the investigation.

The shooter has been identified as 23-year-old Robin Westman, an ex-student of the school.  She fired her weapon through the windows of the church, then took her own life.

Police chief Brian O’Hara said that the children who were shot were sitting in the pews at Mass.

Two children who were killed were aged 8 and 10, while the 17 others inside the church were also injured. Of those injured, 14 were children while the others were adults.

O’Hara called the act of firing into a church filled with children “absolutely incomprehensible”.

“This was a deliberate act of violence against innocent children and other people worshipping,” he said.

The losses of the children are ones which many in the community have mourned, and flowers are being laid at the scene.

US President Donald Trump has ordered for the flags at the White House and at all public buildings to be flown at half-mast until sunset out of respect.

The act is being investigated by the FBI. Agency director Kash Patel has called it “an act of domestic terrorism and [a] hate crime targeting Catholics”.

Photo: Annunciation Catholic School Shooting in Minneapolis by Chad Davis found HERE and used under a Creative Commons license. This image has not been modified.