Alleged attacker uploaded videos earlier todaypublished at 19:59 British Summer Time

19:59 BST

By Shayan Sardarizadeh

BBC Verify has viewed two videos apparently posted by Robin Westman, 23, who is reported by CBS to have been the suspect in the deadly shooting in Minneapolis.

The videos, 10 and 20 minutes long respectively, appear to have been posted to a YouTube channel today.

In them, a number of guns, bullets and magazines are filmed in what appears to be a bedroom. A racist and an antisemitic message as well as a message calling for the killing of President Trump are written on the ammunition and guns.

The BBC's US news partner CBS has asked the White House about the message. An official tells CBS they are aware of reports of the writing but have no comment at this time.

Four pages of hand-written notes are shown, which appear to be a letter or message, and are addressed "to my family and friends". They mention depression and an intention to "fulfill a final act".

The videos and the entire YouTube channel have now been removed.

Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar says the daughter of her former staff member saw the attack first-hand.

"The kids were packed into the church," she tells CBS News, the BBC's US partner.

All the children had been praying, "and the next thing you know, shots are coming in through their windows".

"They're stuck inside."

Klobuchar says the girl - one of the older students - saw several of her friends get shot in the stomach and neck.

Once out of the church, the girl told a schoolmate's father that his daughter had been shot, Klobuchar says.

"You think of the horror of watching these kids get shot... laying down underneath these pews trying to save themselves."

Donald Trump has signed a presidential proclamation honouring victims of today's shooting.

The president, who describes the shooting as "senseless acts of violence", has also ordered that flags at the White House and across the US be flown at half-mast.

Flags at US embassies, military bases and ships will also be lowered.

The order will remain in effect until sunset, 31 August 2025, according to the proclamation.

We've just had an update from the Children's Hospital of Minneapolis.

They say seven children were admitted at first, and one has now been discharged - so six are still in hospital.

Separately, Thomas Wyatt, Chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Hennepin Healthcare, said seven critical patients were brought in and four needed surgery.

Three law enforcement sources have told the BBC's US partner CBS News that the suspected attacker is 23-year-old Robin Westman, from suburban Minneapolis.

Police have said the suspect died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Congressional leadership and Minnesota lawmakers have been reacting to the news of the school shooting.

Here’s what some of them have said:

• House Speaker Mike Johnson: "Our prayers are with the children, families, civilians, law enforcement, and all those impacted by this evil attack"
• “Weapons of war have no place in our neighbourhoods,” writes House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries in a social media post
• Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says they need to “stop gun violence in America”
• Minnesota congresswoman Angie Craig says she is "deeply shocked and saddened" by the situation
• House Majority Leader Steve Scalise says he is "grateful" to law enforcement and first responders - representative Brad Finstad and Betty McCollum also thanked them for their swift response

There have been 286 mass shootings in the US so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive database.

The database defines a mass shooting as an incident where four or more people are shot, not including the gunman.

The data shows the number of mass shootings rose during the pandemic, but is now falling again after peaking in 2021.

Image source, Getty Images

Bishop Kevin Kenney led an installation Mass at Annunciation Catholic Church just over a month ago, according to the church's Facebook page.

Now, he's comforting worshippers at Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC), which is treating some of the victims.

"When I got the news of the mass shooting at Annunciation I thought I'd come down to HCMC to comfort the parents or whoever's here," he tells a local NBC News affiliate.

"It was horrific. And I grew up in that parish, so it has meaning to me now. It shouldn't be happening," Bishop Kenney says.

He also mentions other shootings that have happened in Minneapolis this week.

"Something's got to happen here in this city to stop this."

Kayla Epstein
US reporter

Minnesota, where Minneapolis is located, has got relatively strong gun safety laws compared to the US overall.

It ranks 14th out of the 50 states, according to an analysis by gun safety advocacy group Everytown.

Minnesota requires background checks for buying firearms, and people need permits to carry guns in public.

The state also restricts those with violent offences, felonies, or domestic abuse on their record.

Families can ask a court to temporarily stop an at-risk individual from having guns.

Authorities haven’t given details on how the Minneapolis shooting suspect got the firearms, whether he had permission to own or carry them. Details like this will probably take time to come out.

Image source, Reuters

Here's a recap of what we’ve learnt from updates given by the Minneapolis mayor, police and the hospital, about what police chief Brian O'Hara described as a "deliberate act of violence against children and worshippers":

The victims

Two young children, aged eight and 10, were killed in the shooting.

Seventeen others were injured, with 14 of them being children. A doctor said seven children are in critical condition - earlier, police said two.

The gunman

Authorities have identified the attacker as 23-year-old Robin Westman, from suburban Minneapolis, who police say died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

They say Westman did not have an extensive criminal history, and acted alone.

The attacker was believed to have used three weapons - a rifle, a shotgun and a pistol. A smoke bomb was also found in what police believe is Westman's car.

Police are still searching for a motive.

The shooting

Police said the suspected gunman approached from outside the church and fired dozens of rounds through the windows, hitting children who were inside praying during a first week of school mass.

Image source, EPA

Image source, EPA

US Vice-President JD Vance says the team at the White House is "monitoring the situation in Minneapolis".

"Join all of us in praying for the victims," he says in a statement posted on X.

Kayla Epstein
US reporter

Image source, Orlando Carrasquillo

The doors are still locked at an AutoZone shop just around the corner from Annunciation Catholic School and the church, Orlando Carrasquillo, a 40-year-old employee at the store, tells me.

“I wasn’t scared but it was powerful," Carrasquillo says. "I'm an Iraq veteran - it brought back memories of what I've seen over there. I didn’t appreciate seeing it at a school or a church, or anywhere."

The AutoZone car park is now blocked off and is filled with law enforcement, he says.

Photos Carrasquillo shares with us show officers from the FBI have arrived in tactical gear, along with several fire engines from the Minneapolis Fire Department.

Image source, Orlando Carrasquillo

More from Thomas Wyatt, Chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Hennepin Healthcare.

Asked about the impact events like these can have on healthcare professionals, Wyatt says "it does take a toll".

He says "we have psychologists dedicated to the emergency department to help manage these types of events".

He adds this is the second mass casualty event the hospital has seen in the last 24 hours.

On Tuesday, a gunman opened fire at a south Minneapolis intersection, killing one person and injuring six more.

We're now hearing from Thomas Wyatt, Chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Hennepin Healthcare, the healthcare system that runs a hospital and clinics in Minneapolis.

Seven critical patients were brought in and four needed surgery, Wyatt says. Earlier, police said two children were in critical condition.

Wyatt also says the patients were aged between six and 14 years old.

He adds that he can't give any individual patient information, but at the moment they're all alive.

He also says non-critical patients were taken to other hospitals, but he has no information on those victims.

Image source, CBS

The police briefing has just finished.

Stay with us as we bring you a full recap of what was said - plus more updates as they come in.

Image source, Reuters

O'Hara says that while the gunman was firing from outside the building, he may have gone inside, but no casings have been found inside yet.

He adds that "if not all", then most of the shooting happened outside.

He also says the number of rounds appears to be "in the dozens" and that they think the gunman had used all three weapons - a rifle, shotgun and pistol.

Chief O'Hara says a vehicle believed to be the suspect's has been found in the church car park.

It's now being searched, and he says police will be carrying out other searches.

He says "the shooter approached on one side of the church building," on a side with at least two doors.

In response to a question about explosives, O'Hara says there are "no explosives or improvised devices that we found."

However, police found what he described as a "smoke bomb, like not an explosive, but a sort of a firework" that would generate smoke.

Image source, CBS

Police chief O'Hara is taking questions now.

The first question is about the gunman.

He says police believe the gunman was in his "early-20s" and acted alone.

"We believe he is deceased," he adds, saying the gunman did not have an "extensive known criminal history".

O'Hara says police are looking through information left behind to try and determine a motive.

Police chief Brian O'Hara says the gunman "ultimately took his own life".

He adds, "our hearts are broken for the families who have lost their children", for the young lives "fighting to recover" and for "the entire community that has been so deeply traumatised by this senseless attack".

O'Hara goes on to say the gunman was carrying three weapons - a rifle, a shotgun and a pistol.

He describes shooting into a church full of children as "sheer cruelty and cowardice".

"Two young children, aged eight and 10, were killed where they sat in the pews," O'Hara says. "Their parents have been notified."

He adds that 17 other people were injured - 14 of them children.

Two of those children are in critical condition, he says.