Our live coverage of the shooting has ended. Read the latest here.
"They didn’t have time to react," 7th grader says of children killed in shooting
Grayson Singh, 12, still carries the weight of his two classmates’ death in Wednesday’s shooting at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis.
“They were nice, but unfortunately they were the first to get shot at so they just didn’t have time to react,” Grayson said — his voice cracking as he spoke about Fletcher Merkel, 8, and Harper Moyski, 10.
The shooting began mid-song during Mass, just as the students were settling into their first week of school.
Hiding beneath the pews with a fourth grade student, he tried to keep calm. Grayson explained that older students are assigned to younger students in a buddy system.
“I told him to like hide under the pews and sit there and stay — I didn’t want to draw any attention,” he said.
As bullets shattered the sanctuary, splinters of wood hit his pew.
Grayson said he gathered the sharp pieces and handed them to a nearby teacher under the pew next to him because he didn’t want kids getting cut as they exited the building.
When it was finally safe to leave, his thoughts turned to his sister, who is going to fourth grade.
“I just wish this never happened,” he said.
Trauma doctor says wounded students are largely stable after school shooting
Dr. Jon Gayken, a trauma surgeon at Hennepin Healthcare, said the nine patients hospitalized at the medical center following the shooting at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis – five of them children – are largely in stable condition.
He said the aftermath of the shooting tested even the most seasoned staff. “We do drill for this,” Gayken said. “But nobody is really quite ready for the real thing because you’ve got to add the human emotion, the shock of it all.”
Once the hospital’s mass casualty system was activated, he said, each staff member swiftly assumed their roles.
He described the moments after one young patient, badly wounded, arrived late in the day. As she waited for a CT scanner to become available, Gayken noticed a nurse, usually in more of an administrative role, at the girl’s bedside.
Gayken said he noticed her “talking quietly and gracefully” to the little girl. When it was time to move the patient, the nurse donned a lead apron and stayed with her.
Gayken earlier told reporters that the nurse climbed into a CT scanner along with the girl to comfort her, “putting herself basically in harm’s way of radiation.”
Officers “deeply affected” and “overwhelmed with the horrors” of what they saw yesterday, police chief says
Many of the officers who responded to the Minneapolis shooting yesterday are “deeply affected” and “overwhelmed with the horrors” of what they saw when they entered the church, Police Chief Brian O’Hara told CNN’s Laura Coates.
O’Hara recalled how one officer, who is a mom, described the heart-wrenching process of determining which kids needed immediate medical attention.
The police chief said his officers faced so many different priorities that needed to happen simultaneously.
“It’s difficult just to try and deal with addressing the threat and ensuring there is no other threats to the children, trying to rescue them, trying to provide first aid, triage and care for those who are most seriously injured, while at the same time handing gauze and asking a child, ‘Here, just please hold this on the wound,’ as they are trying to transport and get help to these kids as quickly as possible,” O’Hara said.
Here's what we learned today about the shooting
It’s been a day since a shooter opened fire on Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Here’s what we learned today:
- The attack: At 8:27 a.m. yesterday, 911 began receiving calls reporting shots fired at the Annunciation Church. Moments later at 8:31 a.m., an officer ran inside. Officials recovered approximately 116 rifle rounds, one live round from a handgun and three shotgun shells at the scene, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said. The shooter barricaded the side doors from the outside on the same side of the church where the shooting occurred, he said. According to O’Hara, a church protocol to lock the doors as Mass began likely saved more lives. EMS staff, who have a station only a few blocks away, reached Annunciation within minutes of getting the go-ahead from police, according to Hennepin EMS Chief Martin Scheerer.
- The victims: Families identified 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel and 10-year-old Harper Moyski as the victims killed in yesterday’s shooting. Fifteen other children between the ages of six and 15 were injured. Three adults in their 80s attending Mass were also shot. Police said yesterday that all remaining victims are expected to survive.
- The shooter: O’Hara said police are unsure of how long the shooter, identified as Robin Westman, attended Annunciation. But a yearbook photograph obtained by CNN shows Westman graduated from the school in 2017.
- The investigation: Search warrants executed yesterday resulted in the retrieval of “hundreds of pieces of evidence” as investigators search for a motive behind the attack. Officials learned that the shooter had “some deranged fascination” with previous mass shootings and left behind “very disturbing writings,” including racist and antisemitic slurs and sentiments as well as the explicit desire to harm children. And while officials have conducted “dozens of interviews,” they have still not “been successful in talking to the shooter’s mother yet. Also, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt reaffirmed today that the FBI is investigating the shooting as a hate crime.
- Community remembers: Grieving residents have been adding notes, flowers, candles, stuffed animals and other symbols of remembrance outside the church to honor the shooting victims.
CNN’s Tori B. Powell, Holly Yan, Sophie Garnett, Joel Williams, Rebekah Riess, John Miller, Sara Smart, Elise Hammond, Carma Hassan, Maureen Chowdhury, Emma Tucker, Amanda Musa
We’re hearing more from 11-year-old Chloe Francoual who survived the school shooting
Chloe Francoual, who survived yesterday’s shooting at the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis, says she now feels the urge to close every window she sees open.
“I still feel scared,” she said. “I feel kind of like paranoid.”
Now, she wonders if holding Mass again at Annunciation church will bring back traumatic memories for survivors.
“I really hope they don’t do Mass at the church anymore,” she said. “Because I think they know that people will have like, really bad flashbacks of it. And they’re like scared to like walk in, and they’re like looking around like a shivering, like, shaking. And then I think that the school knows that.”
As she described springing into action when the shooting began, her father Vincent Francoual was overcome with emotion.
“When she told her counselor that she thought she was going to die, it’s just way too much for me,” he said, adding he had in the past discussed with his wife about moving back to his home country of France. “You know, you drop your kids at school and you don’t know if you’re going to get them back.”
The 11-year-old now has advice for any other students who may face a shooting or have survived one.
Watch the interview below, or here on YouTube.
Injured student’s selfless acts helped save many during shooting at Annunciation Catholic School, family says
An injured student’s selfless acts helped save many when a shooting took place at Annunciation Catholic School yesterday, his uncle shared in a verified GoFundMe fundraiser.
Victor, referred to as “Vic,” and his family have started the long journey of recovery, the fundraiser says.
Harper Moyski, 10, remembered as loving big sister whose laughter touched everyone she knew
The second of the victims in yesterday’s school shooting in Minneapolis has been identified as Harper Moyski, according to a statement shared today on her parents’ behalf.
The family expressed gratitude for the outpouring of support and called for change.
“No family should ever have to endure this kind of pain. We urge our leaders and communities to take meaningful steps to address gun violence and the mental health crisis in this country. Change is possible, and it is necessary — so that Harper’s story does not become yet another in a long line of tragedies,” the family said.
The other victim was identified earlier today as 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel.
“She was worried I got shot,” father says in the recount of reuniting with his young daughter after shooting
One parent said when he reunited with his 4-year-old daughter in the moments after the shooting at Annunciation Catholic School, she was worried about him being hurt.
He said his daughter was not hurt, saying it seemed like there were “hundreds” of law enforcement and first responders on the scene helping kids and their families.
Semon said he has another 6-year-old son who does not go to Annunciation, but had participated in a summer program and was friends with one of the children who was killed.
Still, the father said he has “full confidence” in the school, and while it’s not clear when Annunciation will reopen, Semon plans to send his daughter back.
“I don’t know when they’re going to reopen, but when they do, my daughter will be there,” Semon said. “I think it’s important to show solidarity.”
What we know so far about victims of the Minneapolis school shooting
The community in Minneapolis is mourning the deaths of two children and the injuries sustained by more than a dozen other victims after a shooter opened fire on students during Mass for the Annunciation Catholic School yesterday.
New details are emerging about many of the young children hurt and killed in the shooting, as family, friends and neighbors come together to honor them.
Here’s what we know:
- Fletcher Merkel, who was 8 years old, has been identified by his family as one of the two children killed. He “loved his family, friends, fishing, cooking and any sport that he was allowed to play,” his father, Jesse Merkel, said.
- Harper Moyski, 10, was also killed in the shooting, according to a statement shared today on her parents’ behalf. “Our hearts are broken not only as parents, but also for Harper’s sister, who adored her big sister and is grieving an unimaginable loss,” her family said.
- Endre Gunter, a 13-year-old boy, was shot in the stomach. Before he was taken into surgery, he asked the doctor to pray with him, according to his aunt, Natalie Davis, who wrote about the exchange on a GoFundMe page to help with the boy’s medical bills. Endre survived, and his aunt said his resilience and courage will “stay with our family forever.”
- Sophia Forchas, 12, was in critical condition after undergoing emergency surgery, according to a GoFundMe organized for the family. Her younger brother was also at the school yesterday, but he was unharmed, according to the page. Their mother is a pediatric critical care nurse at Hennepin County Medical Center, where several of the wounded were taken.
This post has been updated with details about Harper Moyski.
One child still hospitalized at Children’s Minnesota
One child remains in the care of Children’s Minnesota hospital in Minneapolis, the hospital said in an update today.
Hospital officials declined to offer additional details or an update on the child’s condition, but said six other patients were treated and discharged.
Earlier today, Hennepin Healthcare Clinic and Specialty Center said it is treating nine patients, including one child in critical condition.
Stuffed animals, balloons and flowers: Community members leave items at church to remember shooting victims
A memorial has been set up at Annunciation Catholic School with bouquets of flowers, stuffed animals and signs from the community.
There is a personalized memorial honoring the 8-year-old victim Fletcher Merkel, who was identified today by his father as one of the two children who died in the shooting. His memorial features hand-colored drawings, balloons, many stuffed animals, children’s books as well as a sign with Merkel’s name on it with a note signed “Mom” that reads “I love you always and forever.”
An electronic message on the school’s marquee sign reads, “Thank you for your love and support.”
Fletcher Merkel, 8, killed in attack remembered as loving "any sport that he was allowed to play," father says
One of the two children killed in yesterday’s shooting at a Minneapolis church has been identified as 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel, according to his family.
“Yesterday, a coward decided to take our eight-year-old son Fletcher away from us,” said the boy’s father, Jesse Merkel. “We will never be allowed to hold him, talk to him, play with him and watch him grow into the wonderful young man he was on the path to becoming.”
“Fletcher loved his family, friends, fishing, cooking and any sport that he was allowed to play,” Merkel added. “I hope that in time, our family can find healing.”
One other child – a 10-year-old who has not been identified – was killed when a shooter opened fired on praying Catholic school students. Eighteen other people were wounded, most of them students.
Student tells CNN how gunfire got "faster and faster" as chaos unfolded in the church
Chloe Francoual, an 11-year-old Annunciation Catholic School student who was in the church during yesterday’s shooting, described the terrifying moments when bullets started to fly through the air.
She said she smelled smoke at first and thought the first gunshot was a firework, “like everybody else.”
She said some kids hid under the pews while others started running to various ares of the church.
Francoual said she ran to a side room, where she and other people in there started barricading the doors with tables and other items.
We've learned new details about the shooter in the last hour. Catch up here
New details about the shooter have emerged this afternoon after yesterday’s shooting at the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Here’s what officials revealed in the last hour:
Insight into the shooter:
- The shooter had “some deranged fascination” with previous mass shootings, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said. The shooter left behind “very disturbing writings” demonstrating hate toward various groups of people and “fantasized about the plans of other mass shooters,” the police chief said, adding that “the purpose of the shooter’s actions was to obtain notoriety.”
- Police have not been able to identify “a specific trigger” for why the shooter decided to open fire or a “specific grievance” against the church, O’Hara said. The police chief also said authorities have not found evidence that the shooter was part of “radicalized” online groups.
- “Hundreds of pages of writing” showed that the shooter was “obsessed with the idea of killing children,” said acting US Attorney for Minnesota Joe Thompson. He said “there is evidence of hate” when asked about FBI Director Kash Patel’s post about what investigators have found about the shooter.
Progress in investigation: While officials have conducted “dozens of interviews,” they have still not “been successful in talking to the shooter’s mother yet,” O’Hara said. Additionally, police executed four search warrants yesterday and retrieved “hundreds of pieces of evidence,” including “electronic devices that will be further searched and processed,” O’Hara said.
Rounds collected from site: Officials recovered approximately 116 rifle rounds, one live round from a handgun and three shotgun shells at the scene of the shooting, according to O’Hara. The handgun “appears to have malfunctioned as the shooter attempted to use it,” he added.
A life-saving practice: The Annunciation Church had a practice in place to lock the church doors as Mass service began, which likely saved more lives when the shooter opened fire through the windows, O’Hara said.
Information about a victim: 12-year-old Sophia Forchas, a shooting victim, “has passed through the difficult and long surgery but remains in a critical situation,” according to the parish her family attends. Separately, the total number of people injured in yesterday’s shooting jumped to 18 after officials identified an additional victim, according to the City of Minneapolis.
Police have not identified "specific grievance" shooter had against church, chief says
Police have not been able to identify exactly why the shooter decided to open fire at the Annunciation Catholic School, as investigators continue to search for a motive.
“We have not found a specific trigger for why to target the children at this church,” Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said.
O’Hara said the shooter does have a connection to Annunciation in that the shooter attended the school and the shooter’s mother worked for the parish. But, he said police have not identified a “specific grievance” against the church.
The police chief also said they have not found evidence that the shooter was part of “radicalized” online groups, but the shooter did have a fascination with other mass shootings.
Police chief says he doesn't know how long shooter attended Annunciation Catholic School
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said he does not know how long the shooter attended Annunciation Catholic School.
“I don’t know the period of time exactly,” he said during a news conference.
A yearbook photograph obtained by CNN shows the shooter graduated from Annunciation Catholic grade school in 2017.
The shooter’s mother worked there from 2016 through 2021, according to social media posts.
CNN’s Casey Tolan, Audrey Ash, Allison Gordon, Yahya Abou-Ghazala, Rob Kuznia and John Miller contributed to this post.
Investigators have not spoken to the shooter's mother yet, police chief says
While officials have conducted “dozens of interviews” following yesterday’s shooting, investigators have still not spoken to the shooter’s mother, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said.
“I know we have not been successful in talking to the shooter’s mother yet at this time,” O’Hara said. “But there continue to be efforts made to get that done.”
Church protocol to lock doors during Mass likely saved lives, police chief says
The Annunciation Church had a practice in place to lock the church doors as Mass service began, which likely saved more lives when a shooter opened fire through the windows on Wednesday, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said.
The shooter barricaded the side doors from the outside on the same side of the church where the shooting occurred, he added.
“What’s particularly heinous and cowardly about this is these children were slaughtered by a shooter who could not see them,” the police chief said.
“There is evidence of hate,” acting US attorney says
Minnesota Acting US Attorney Joseph Thompson said that “there is evidence of hate” when asked about FBI Director Kash Patel’s post about what investigators have found about the shooter.
Patel posted updates on the investigation on X where he stated that the shooter “expressed hatred and violence toward Jewish people” and ” wrote a an explicit call for violence against” President Donald Trump.
