UPDATE (3:46 pm): This story has been updated with additional comments from Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont and Lieutenant Governor Susan Bysiewicz.

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President Donald Trump has ordered flags across the country to be lowered as the nation begins to mourn following the latest school shooting.

The Associated Press reports a shooter opened fire Wednesday morning during Mass at a Minneapolis Catholic school, killing two children and injuring 17 other people before killing himself.

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said the shooter — armed with a rifle, shotgun and pistol — approached the side of the church and shot through the windows toward the children sitting in the pews during Mass at Annunciation Catholic School.

The school was evacuated, and students’ families were later directed to a “reunification zone” at the school. President Trump and Minnesota Gov Tim Walz said in separate social media posts that they had been briefed on the shooting.

In a proclamation, Trump called for “a mark of respect for the victims of the senseless acts of violence perpetrated on August 27, 2025, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.” He has ordered American flags lowered to half-staff at The White House “and upon all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its Territories and possessions until sunset, August 31, 2025.”

The President additionally directed they be lowered for the same length of time at all United States embassies, legations, consular offices, and other facilities abroad, including all military facilities and naval vessels and stations.

Since no flag should fly higher than the US flag, all other flags, including state, municipal, corporate, or otherwise, should also be lowered.

Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont followed a short time later, issuing a similar declaration.

“The reports from Minneapolis regarding a mass shooting during a back-to-school mass at Annunciation Catholic Church are devastating,” Lamont said. “Schools and churches should be places of learning, healing, and solidarity. We are grieving with everyone impacted by this disgusting act of violence.”

Lt Governor Susan Bysiewicz said that while everyone “should be celebrating the return of school, we are watching the heartbreaking headlines coming out of Minneapolis.

“My heart is breaking for the victims, their families, the community, and our nation as parents will fear sending kids off to school, where they should be safest,” she added. “This has to stop. It is past time for comprehensive, meaningful, federal action. If we do not take a stand, gun violence will continue to plague our nation, killing our kids.”