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The US suspect who opened fire on school children attending a church service in Minneapolis had written homages on gun magazines referencing the Christchurch mosque terrorist.

The heavily-armed shooter killed two young children and wounded 17 people in today’s attack at Annunciation Church during Mass, marking the first week back at school.

According to CNN’s chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller, Robin Westman, the suspect in the attack, posted a YouTube video which showed writings that contained anti-Black, antisemitic and anti-religious messages.

Westman had written homages on rifles to people such as the Christchurch mosque terrorist, Miller said.

The 23-year-old suspect legally changed their name in 2020 and identified as female, court papers show.

Miller, who read Westman’s writings, said the suspect “has been depressed for a long time”, and his attack had been long-planned.

The suspect knew their friends would hate them for the attack, and planned to take their own life after the shooting, Miller reported.

Weapons from a YouTube video Robin Westman posted before the shooting on Wednesday. Photo / YouTube

Miller said Westman thought “it was better to die standing up than kneeling down for all the injustices” that they experienced.

New Zealand’s Muslim community suffered a horrific attack when self-proclaimed “white nationalist” Brenton Tarrant opened fire on worshippers at two mosques in Christchurch on March 15, 2019.

Fifty-one people were killed and 41 wounded, one of whom died six weeks later.

Former Prime Minister Dame Jacinda Ardern described it as one of New Zealand’s darkest days.

Minneapolis shooting

City Police chief Brian O’Hara said that the attacker sprayed bullets through the windows of the Annunciation Church as dozens of young students were at a Mass marking their first week back at school.

“Two young children, ages 8 and 10, were killed where they sat in the pews,” O’Hara said, adding that another 14 children and three elderly parishioners were injured by gunfire.

The gunman fired a rifle, shotgun and pistol before dying by suicide in the parking lot. They had purchased the weapons legally, police said.

A parent hugs her son during an active shooter situation at the Annunciation Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Photo / Getty Images

One 10-year-old said he had survived the shooting thanks to a friend who covered him with his body.

“I just ran under the pew, and then I covered my head,” he told broadcaster CBS.

“My friend Victor saved me though, because he laid on top of me, but he got hit.”

FBI Director Kash Patel said the agency was investigating the shooting as “an act of domestic terrorism and hate crime targeting Catholics”.

US media reports said Westman had been a student at the school.

The attack drew condemnation and expressions of grief from many, including President Donald Trump, who directed that US flags at the White House be lowered to half-staff.

The church sits next to an affiliated Catholic school in Minneapolis, the largest city in the Midwestern state of Minnesota, AFP reported.

The mass shooting is the latest in a long line of deadly school attacks in the United States, where attempts to restrict easy access to firearms face political deadlock.

At least 16,700 people were killed in US firearms violence last year, not including suicides.

- Additional reporting by AFP