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Annunciation Catholic Church & School Shooting | Image source: Abbie Parr/AP | Thumbnail edited on Canva
**Trigger Warning! This article contains graphic descriptions of gun violence, child fatalities, hate crimes, and references to suicide, self-harm, and violence. Reader discretion is strongly advised. Click on images to view full galleries throughout the article. 7 min read.
August 27th, 2025
On a bright Wednesday morning, just before 8:30am, a devastating and traumatic attack occurred at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis, Minnesota, US. During a school-wide Mass attended by the students and faculty of Annunciation Catholic School, the perpetrator fired gunshots through windows at innocent children, worshippers, and members of the congregation. The shooting left two children dead, and injuring 21 others – those of which were three senior citizens and eighteen other children. The two children, Fletcher Merkel aged eight and Harper Moyski aged ten, were killed before the attacker died at the scene from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The perpetrator was later identified as 23-year-old Robin M. Westman. A total of three shotgun shells and 116 rifle rounds were recovered.
Westman was seen on August 23rd, just days before the attack, purchasing a .38 Special revolver. The legal transaction at Frontiersman Sports gun shop took approximately 40 minutes. According to the shop’s owner, Kory Krause, the revolver was not one of the three firearms identified by police as having been used in the attack. The attack was used with a rifle, a shotgun, and a pistol. Krause also turned over the surveillance footage to federal authorities investigating the shooting and has since released it publicly to demonstrate that Westman exhibited no red flags – none that his trained staff were trained to look for. The perpetrator had no criminal history and no documented mental illness.
“The FBI is investigating this shooting as an act of domestic terrorism and a hate crime targeting Catholics,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in a post on X (formerly known as Twitter). The shooting remains under investigation, and police stated that they have not identified any specific motive for the attack. However, authorities discovered a previously released YouTube video – since taken down with the help of the FBI – that contained numerous writings on a journal, weapons, and magazines all filled with racial slurs, a call for President Donald Trump’s death, antisemitic messages, and references to the Holocaust and the Catholic Church. The journal also contained writing that used the Russian Cyrillic alphabet to spell English words. It detailed the shooter’s own obsession with school related mass shootings, an apology addressed to the shooter’s family, and a sketch of a church’s interior layout and other violent acts. The journal also discussed topics such as suicide, self-harm, depression, and steps for carrying out a mass shooting.
Victims of the Shooting & Statements
Patrick Scallen, a neighbor, ran towards the shooting after hearing gunfire. He saw three children running away from the church, one of them a girl with a head wound. “She kept saying ‘Please hold my hand, don’t leave me’ and I said I wasn’t going anywhere.”
Lydia Kaiser was one among those 21 injured in the shooting. She was seriously injured while protecting a younger child by executing Annunciation’s “buddy system”, a procedure where an older child is paired with a younger child in case of an emergency and can easily shield them. Her father, a gym teacher at the Catholic school, was also present during the shooting and helped secure the room and keep the students safe. “Lydia sustained a traumatic brain injury due to the impact of a bullet… On August 27, she underwent brain surgery to remove bullet fragments and underwent a… critical brain surgery to alleviate the swelling and reduce the pressure on her brain… Today, Lydia is making remarkable progress in her recovery. She will continue care at Children’s Minnesota,” Children’s Minnesota shared on behalf of the Kaiser family. Her family is “grateful Lydia is alive.”
Sophia Forchas, a 12-year-old girl, was shot during the attack and has been “fighting for her life… Her road ahead will be long, uncertain, and incredibly difficult – but she is strong, and she is not alone,” her GoFundMe reads.
A 10-year-old boy who survived the attack said his friend saved him from bullets by lying on top of him. “I was like two seats away from the stained glass window,” he said. “My friend, Victor, saved me though, because he laid on top of me, but he got hit… My friend got hit in the back, he went to the hospital… I was super scared for him but I think now he’s okay.”
“We feel the pain, the anger, the confusion, and the searing reality that our lives will never be the same. Yet we still have our child. We grieve and we pray: for the others who were shot, for their families, and for those who lost loved ones,” Danielle Gunter stated, whose eigth-grade son was shot and wounded.
Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope, paid tribute the victims and said that he was “profoundly saddened” by the attack.
“This was a deliberate act of violence against innocent children and other people worshipping. The sheer cruelty and cowardice of firing into a church full of children is absolutely incomprehensible,” Police Chief of the Minneapolis Police Department Brian O’Hara said.
“How many times have you heard politicians talk of an ‘unspeakable tragedy’? And yet this kind of thing happens again and again. Prayers, thoughts, they are certainly welcomed, but they are not enough,” Jacob Frey, Mayor of Minneapolis said. “There needs to be change so that we don’t have another mayor, in another month-and-a half, talking about a tragedy that happened in their city.”
“Minnesota stands with Annunciation today, and we will not let hate define us,” Tim Walz, governor of Minnesota said. He ordered flags flown at half-staff and pledged mental health resources for students, teachers, and families affected.
May all victims who lost their lives rest in peace.
GoFundMe Links:
Support Weston’s Healing Journey: https://www.gofundme.com/f/ff74d-support-westons-healing-journey
Help Lydia and the Kaiser Family Heal: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-lydia-and-the-kaiser-family-heal
Support Sophia, and the Forchas Family recover: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-sophia-and-the-forchas-family-recover
Support Genevieve’s Healing Journey: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-genevieves-healing-journey
Help David Haeg Heal After Tragedy: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-david-haeg-heal-after-tragedy
Donate for Victor’s Ongoing Medical Care: https://www.gofundme.com/f/donate-for-victors-ongoing-medical-care
Stand with Endre: Overcoming Tragedy Together: https://www.gofundme.com/f/stand-with-endre-overcoming-tragedy-together
Support Vivi and her family: https://www.gofundme.com/f/t7swva-support-vivi-and-her-family
Sources:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/live-blog/live-updates-active-shooter-situation-minneapolis-church-catholic-scho-rcna227498
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2025/09/03/annunciation-church-shooting-2-kids-hospitalized-others-released
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c7760x87r4po
https://abcnews.go.com/US/minneapolis-school-shooting-victims/story?id=125056096
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annunciation_Catholic_Church_shooting
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/minneapolis-catholic-school-shooting-rcna227591
https://abcnews.go.com/US/new-video-footage-shows-annunciation-school-shooter-gun/story?id=125201434
https://www.bocaratontribune.com/bocaratonnews/2025/08/tragedy-strikes-minneapolis-two-children-killed-17-injured-in-shooting-at-annunciation-catholic-school-mass/