A school shooting in Minneapolis that left two children dead and fourteen others injured is being investigated by the FBI as a hate crime against Catholics.

Three adults were also injured in the attack.

The shooting took place while children were attending their first Mass of the new year at Annunciation Catholic School. The 23-year-old suspect died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

FBI Director Kash Patel said the incident is being investigated “as an act of domestic terrorism against Catholics.”

The deceased suspect was a transgender individual whose mother had worked at the school until 2023.

A video allegedly posted by the attacker on YouTube shows a hand-drawn map of the church titled Annunciation from Memory.

In a telegram to Archbishop Bernard Hebda of Minneapolis, the Pope said he sends “heartfelt condolences and the assurance of spiritual closeness to all those affected by this terrible tragedy, especially the families now grieving the loss of a child.”

Jennifer Mills-Knutsen, Senior Minister of the American International Church, told Premier Christian News that she feels “heartbroken” for the parents of those killed.

“The first thing I thought about was a passage in Jeremiah (31:15),” Mills-Knutsen said, “where a voice is heard in Ramah and Rachel weeps for her children because they are no more. I think about how ancient it is that mothers weep over their children who are no more, whose lives have been ended by violence.”

She continued: “I think the only place where we can stand with hope when there’s violence — especially against children — is to know that we worship a God who knows the suffering of a parent who’s lost a child, and stands with us and does not look away.”