Two children were killed while 17 other people were wounded during a mass shooting that occurred while the victims were attending Mass at the Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis on Tuesday (Philippine time).

The gunman, identified as 23-year-old Robin Westman, committed suicide following the attack

Before the incident the suspect reportedly uploaded on social media a video mocking Jesus Christ.

Reports also revealed that the murders took place after Catholic leaders in Minnesota called for the allocation of more security funding for local non-public schools.

Meanwhile, Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patei said the shooting at the Catholic school could be an “act of domestic terrorism and hate crime targeting Catholics.”

The two fatalities, aged 8 and 10, were reportedly declared on arrival at the hospital where they were rushed.

Of the 17 individuals wounded during the incident, 14 of them are minors studying at the Annunciation Catholic school.

Westman graduated from the said school 8n 2017.

“The gunman approached on the side of the building and began firing a rifle through the church windows towards the children sitting in the pews at the Mass,” said Minneapolis Police chief Brian O’Hara.

He decried the incident as a “deliberate act of violence” committed with “sheer cruelty and cowardice.”