Men, women, and children were reported to have been indiscriminately killed, with the attackers allegedly using spears, machetes, clubs, hand grenades and automatic weapons.
The mayor of Rusumo, Sylvestre Gacumbitsi, was found guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity (for rape and extermination) by the trial chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in 2004, and sentenced to life imprisonment.
One girl he met at a nearby hospital was 13-year-old Valentina Iribagiza who had seen her family killed and survived in the church for more than 43 days before being rescued.
Three years later Keane went back to interview her, and the documentary "Valentina's Nightmare: A Journey into the Genocide Against The Tutsi" was broadcast on the series Frontline in April 1997.
The church and houses of the nuns and priest where the victims took refuge are home to the Nyarubuye Genocide Memorial Site.