The body of the gunman was found today in the chapel at the Conception Abbey Benedictine monastery, a Missouri State Highway Patrol official told AP. The official said the man shot himself to death after shooting the others.
Authorities were seeking a motive. Father Gregory Polan, the abbot, said he was shown a driver´s license of the shooter and that “we have no sense of who this man is,” AP reported.
The gunman´s name was not released. Nor were the names of the two dead monks — a 64-year-old and an octogenarian — immediately released.
Father Polan said monks heard noises about 8:40 a.m. and barred themselves in their rooms when they realized a gun was being fired, AP said.
The abbey´s seminary college is the biggest priestly training center in the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph.
