Minneapolis, a series of shootings and the grim realities of a tough summer

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The bad news began in the early days of summer and has never seemed to end in this corner of the Upper Midwest.

There was the deadly attack on state politicians in the Minneapolis suburbs. The gunfire that erupted during a gathering at a popular city picnic spot, leaving one person dead and five injured. On Tuesday a shooter sprayed bullets on a sidewalk behind a Catholic high school, killing one person and injuring six.

Then, on Wednesday, police swarmed another Catholic school a few miles away.

In what Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara called a “ truly unthinkable tragedy,” a shooter fired into a church where some 200 children from Annunciation Catholic School were at Mass. Two of them were killed, and 18 people were wounded.

“This has been a tough summer for Minnesota,” acting U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson said Thursday.

Summer has seen a spike in violence in Minneapolis

Even as most categories of crime continue to fall in Minneapolis after a surge that followed the 2020 killing of George Floyd, the season has seen a spike in violence that repeatedly led to armored vehicles being seen rolling through the streets carrying police in full combat gear.

In the latest violence, the shooter, who authorities say was consumed by thoughts of killing children, fired more than 100 rounds through the church’s stained-glass windows.

Authorities said there was no clear motive, though 23-year-old Robin Westman, who died by suicide at the church, left behind videos and writings that idolized mass killers and vented fury at a litany of humanity, from Black people to Mexicans to Christians to Jews.

“In short, the shooter appeared to hate all of us,” Thompson said.

In the writings Westman spoke of profound depression and longtime plans to carry out a mass shooting.

“I know this is wrong, but I can’t seem to stop myself,” Westman wrote.

State law enforcement officers to help monitor schools and churches

On Thursday, looking to reassure Minneapolis residents, Gov. Tim Walz ordered state law enforcement officers to work with local police to keep watch over schools and churches.

“By coming together, local and state law enforcement are sending a clear message: The people of Minneapolis are not alone,” Department of Public Safety Commissioner Bob Jacobson said in a statement. “The loss Minneapolis is experiencing right now is felt across our entire state,”

That loss is something Minneapolis has felt repeatedly this summer.

People were stunned when a man posing as a police officer hunted a series of state lawmakers in the Minneapolis suburbs in the early hours of June 14. Police say Vance Boelter fatally shot former House speaker Melissa Hortman, 55, long one of the state’s most prominent Democrats, along with her husband, Mark. He also allegedly shot Democratic state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, though both survived.

Boelter, a 57-year-old father of five and sometime Christian pastor, was arrested after the largest search in the state’s history. He confessed to the killings in a handwritten letter, authorities say.

The motive remains unclear. There have been only hints in the list he carried of his targets, overwhelmingly Democrats, and a rambling letter with claims of secret military training and missions around the world.

Surges in violence don’t define life in Minneapolis, residents say

But surges in violence, people here say, do not define life in a city where families often remain for generations.

“I feel like Minneapolis is deeply misunderstood,” said Tess Rada, whose 8-year-old daughter attends Annunciation, survived the shooting and was friends with one of the children killed.

“There are so many more good people than bad people,” said Rada, who does data entry for a printing company and directs middle school theater productions.

Vincent Francoual ’s sixth grade daughter was also in the church. She escaped by bolting downstairs and hiding in a room with a table pressed against the door.

Francoual was born in France but has lived in Minneapolis for most of his life. Even before the shooting, he said, he had become increasingly concerned with what he called America’s “gun fever.”

“I told my wife a year ago that this is a country where you bring your kids to school not knowing if you’re going to get them back,” Francoual said. “She thought I was a bit dramatic. And you know what? It happened.”

Francoual said he is already bracing for Annunciation and Minneapolis to be thrust into the polarizing conversation about crime and gun violence in big cities.

“Minneapolis is a great city,” he said, no matter what politicians in Washington say. “It’s a great city to live in.”

The school has always been a strong source of community for Francoual, with families helping each other with child care and vacationing together.

“Even though we’re in a big city,” he said, “it could be a school in a small town.”

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Associated Press writers Jack Dura in Bismarck, North Dakota, and Safiyah Riddle in Montgomery, Alabama, contributed.