Minneapolis school shooting: This is how many lives have been lost to school shootings this year
Two children were killed and 17 others were injured in a shooting at the Annunciation Catholic School in South Minneapolis on Wednesday.
The shooting is at least the fifth at K-12 schools in the U.S. since the school year began on Aug. 1, according to the anti-gun violence advocacy organization Everytown for Gun Safety.
Gun control advocates are once again calling for firearm restrictions to protect children in schools in the wake of the shooting.
"Kids have only been back to their classrooms for a few weeks, and already this school year is scarred by multiple shootings. No parent should fear sending their child to school. No child should pray for safety in a church," the student-led gun control advocacy group March for Our Lives said in a statement Wednesday.
There have been at least 57 shootings at K-12 schools in 2025, not including Wednesday's shooting in Minneapolis, according to Everytown for Gun Safety, which says of the 47 people shot in those prior incidents at least 15 were killed.
"What should be a day of hope has turned into a day of horror for yet another school community," John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety, said in a statement on Wednesday in response to the Minneapolis shooting. "All signs point to this tragedy being perpetrated by an assault weapon, which begs a question: How many more Americans must die before lawmakers ban these weapons of war?"
While police said the suspected shooter was armed with a rifle, a shotgun and a pistol, officials as of Wednesday afternoon had not specified the exact type of rifle used by the shooter, whom police said died by a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Shots are being fired at schools in the U.S. nearly twice a week on average, according to statistics compiled by Everytown. There have been at least 90 incidents of gunfire on school grounds in 2025, resulting in 29 deaths and 69 injuries nationally, according to the group.
"As a mom who just sent my little ones back to school and as a woman of faith, I am devastated that yet again children are dead and more are fighting for their lives after being gunned down at school and in a church," Angela Ferrell-Zabala, executive director of the gun safety advocacy group Moms Demand Action, said in a statement. "How many more of our babies have to die before Congress finally gets these weapons of war off our streets?"
"This is the reality we're growing up in. Nowhere feels safe," said Timberlyn Mazeikis, a gun violence survivor from the 2023 shooting at Michigan State University and a Minnesota volunteer for Students Demand Action, another student-led gun control advocacy group. "One week into the school year, colleges are under constant lockdown hoaxes while kids are being shot at school. Until we get weapons of war off our streets, students will keep getting shot and killed and this will continue to be our reality."
