Deadly shooting in Minneapolis forces lockdown as Episcopalians arrive for church’s LGBTQ+ gathering

Law enforcement responds to a shooting Sept. 2 in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. Photo: Ellen Schmidt/AP

[Episcopal News Service] The hotel in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where The Episcopal Church’s Full and Equal gathering is being held, was temporarily placed on lockdown Sept. 2 while police responded to a deadly mass shooting nearby.

A gunman opened fire around 4:30 p.m. at an apartment building in the Loring Park neighborhood near downtown, killing two people and injuring six others, before police found the shooter dead at the scene. He was later identified as 35-year-old Carlton Neal Johnson II, who had been fighting an eviction, according to the Star Tribune.

The Full and Equal gathering, celebrating 50 years of progress toward full LGBTQ+ inclusion in The Episcopal Church, is taking place Sept. 3-5, at the Sheraton hotel less than one block from the shooting scene, and some attendees who had arrived the day before the church event reported being affected by the lockdown.

“The area is on lockdown due to yet more gun violence,” Connecticut Bishop Jeffrey Mello posted to Facebook. “Pray for all those impacted, healing for those injured, and an end to this scourge.”

During the initial police response, The Episcopal Church sent a message to Full and Equal attendees about the lockdown, advising anyone at the hotel to remain in their rooms. “There is no indication that this incident is related to our event or to The Episcopal Church in any way,” the church’s advisory said.

A follow-up message to attendees confirmed that the lockdown in the area had been lifted, and the gathering’s programming would begin as scheduled at 9 a.m. Sept. 3. It would include “an opportunity to gather for prayer and reflection – grieving those lost and injured and recommitting to the work of standing against the scourge of gun violence that infects our nation.”

The gathering marks 50 years since General Convention passed a resolution in 1976 affirming that LGBTQ+ individuals “are children of God who have a full and equal claim with all other persons upon the love, acceptance, and pastoral concern and care of the Church.”

Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe is expected to join one of the panel discussions and will be the celebrant at a concluding Holy Eucharist on Sept. 5 at St. Mark’s Cathedral. The preacher will be the Rt. Rev. Gene Robinson, who became the church’s first openly gay bishop when he was consecrated by the Diocese of New Hampshire in 2003.

There have been 324 mass shootings in the United States so far in 2026, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as any incident in which four or more people are shot or killed, not including the shooter.

The Episcopal Church has been active for years in lamenting the human toll of gun violence while advocating for political reforms promoting gun safety, particularly through the Bishops United Against Gun Violence network.

In 2022, a deadly shooting occurred about two blocks from where the church was holding its 80th General Convention in Baltimore, Maryland, and Bishops United responded by organizing a march through the neighborhood calling for an end to gun violence.

As police continue to investigate the Minneapolis shooting, Full and Equal attendees are again offering prayers for peace.

“Prayers ascending for those impacted by the shooting in downtown Minneapolis just across the street from the hotel were in,” the Rev. Susan Russell, one of the Full and Equal gathering organizers, said in a Facebook post on Sept. 2. She added that she and other attendees were safe, though “somewhat shaken up.”

As the Full and Equal gathering got underway Sept. 3, Michigan Bishop Bonnie Perry, a convener of Bishops United Against Gun Violence, led participants in a mournful litany. “We pray for communities where gun violence is not an interruption but a pattern,” Perry said.

– David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org. Mary Frances Schjonberg contributed reporting from Minneapolis.