Minneapolis mass shooting reignites school safety policy discussion

Two children were killed and 17 more injured when a shooter opened fire on Minneapolis’ shooter at a morning mass Catholic SchoolThe state then escaped the tragedy and debates about ways to prevent such horror.

“This violence is recent. It’s new in human history,” Secretary of Health and Public Services Department Robert Kennedy Jr. said in an interview with Fox and Friends Thursday morning. “In the past, people didn’t have time to walk into churches or classrooms to start shooting people. It didn’t really happen in other countries. It happened here, and we need to look at all the culprits that could contribute to this.”

FBI is investigating shooting, FBI Director Kash Patel When Trump administration officials offer prayers and find ways to resolve the country’s ongoing mental health crisis, it is called “domestic terrorism and hate crimes.”

John Lott, founder and president of the Crime Prevention Research Center, introduced some of the top variables involved in such shootings, including killers who try to gain as much media attention as possible by targeting unarmed fields.

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“You read these manifestos and diaries. Over and over, these guys know they’re going to commit suicide,” Lott said. “They know or think they’re going to die. People always want to commit suicide, but somewhere along the line, people who feel unacceptable, they don’t think people know they’re a great person, or have any realization that they can get national and international attention by killing a lot of people.”

The Minneapolis shooter committed suicide in a rampage Wednesday morning.

“They know if they’ve gone to places where the victims don’t have defense, and they’ll be able to kill more people and get more media attention,” Lott said. “So the thing that stops these attacks is to eliminate this infamous that they can get.”

Lott has long called for the destruction of “gun-free zones” and said the Trump administration has the opportunity to “strengthen” schools by removing such zones and designating their signs, which basically promotes that there are no guns inside the facility.

Instead, schools and other common “soft targets” should be installed, Lott said, indicating that select teachers and staff are equipped with hidden weapons to protect students and others.

A shooting occurred Wednesday at the Catholic Church, as young students from the narrow Och school attended Mass during the first week of the classroom. The tragedy ended up leaving two children aged 8 and 10, dead and 17 students and injured.

Police say

Community members hugged after shooting at Catholic Catholic school in Minneapolis on August 27, 2025. (Alex Kormann/Star Tribune via AP)

Police identified the shooter as 23-year-old Robin Westman, who allegedly used guns legally purchased by three people, including rifles, pistols and shotguns, for sabotage.

A Minneapolis teenager named Robert Westman received a legal name change from Robin Westman in 2019, according to a court record previously reported by Fox News Show.

Local police also reported that they knew the shooter had posted a manifesto on YouTube, although the video has been deleted and is now under investigation.

The White House held a press conference Thursday during which press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Kennedy’s Department of Health and Human Services is investigating potential prescription drugs links to massive tragedies and that the federal government’s health department has been focusing on the nation’s mental health dilemma.

“I know this morning the Secretary of Health and Human Services said that HHS is investigating the link between some of these drugs and these prescription drugs, and some minors in these drugs may be increasing violence,” Levitt said. “Obviously, we are experiencing mental health problems in this country, that is, this administration and Secretary Kennedy will continue to speak out and what we have done to address it.”

In response to Kennedy’s potential relationship between the shooting and certain prescription intakes, the U.S. First Law Ian Prior told Fox Digital that conservative groups revealed the FDA”Show government documents Know that puberty blockers can increase depression and suicidal thoughts. ”

“However, they still push them toward vulnerable children. We are flooding with drugs, thus destroying their minds – from adolescence blockers to SSRIS, and then showing surprise when tragic violence breaks out,” he said. “The federal regulators are not protecting children, but creating a generation that strives to endanger themselves and the public. If we want to end mass shootings, we have to face these basic causes.”

Karoline Leavitt said Kennedy’s Health and Public Services are investigating potential prescription drugs’ links to massive tragedies and that the federal government’s health department has been focusing on the country’s mental health dilemma. (Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Amy Swearer, a senior legal fellow at Heritage Foundation, told Fox News Digital that the Trump administration should end the historic and “absurd concern” of gun control in the United States in response to school shootings as it maps the next steps to resolve such tragedies.

“Focusing on this through gun control lenses is often not conducive to actually solving any problem here, especially when we talk specifically about school shooters,” Swearer said.

“Often, when we see school shooters, you either have minors who can’t legally buy guns, they take guns from parents or other family members,” she continued. “Or, you’re dealing with people like we see in Minneapolis, who belong to the wider adult mass public shooters, and unfortunately the problem is not the people who are going to make them comply with our laws.

Twins denounce deadly shooting at Minnesota Catholic Church as “uncomprehensible” attack

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey sat on the steps of the Alert Church School, police reportedly reported a mass shooting in Minneapolis on August 27, 2025. (Abbie Parr/AP Photo)

After the shooting, Democratic lawmakers have effectively supported support for additional gun control while condemning “gun violence” and “weapons of war” on American streets.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck SchumerDN.Y. wrote on X: “Students and teachers should not put their lives on the line just by returning to school. We must do more to stop gun violence in the United States.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries talked about the tragedy. “Weapons of war have no place in our neighborhoods, streets or schools.”

Police are working on the scene after a mass shooting at Catholic school in Minneapolis on August 27, 2025. (Getty Image)

Like Lott, Swearer said, “soft targets,” such as gunless school areas, are often preyed by mass shooters, because criminals can carry out deadly attacks without the victim’s resistance. She called on schools and other “soft goals” to at least choose to protect themselves.

“There is a general rule: Hard targets protect people,” she said.

Lott added that if the killer’s “target” must be taken from them Massive shooting Tragedy will be greatly reduced forever.

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“The way to cancel their goal is to be there quickly, or they believe someone is there soon can stop them from killing many people,” he said. “I force myself to read their diaries and manifesto, saying time and time again, ‘If I can only kill more people, then I can get more media attention. I can get my name in history books.'”