The parents of the two schoolchildren fatally shot in a Minneapolis church spoke out for the first time on Thursday afternoon, with some imploring the shaken community to address the root causes of shootings that target schools.
Fletcher Merkel, 8, and Harper Moyski, 10, were killed on Wednesday morning when a shooter opened fire at a Mass that hundreds of students at Annunciation Catholic School attended.
City officials increased to 15 the number of injured children, who are ages 6 to 15. Three parishioners in their 80s also were injured. Only one person — a child — was in critical condition.
In a statement released Thursday, Moyski’s parents described Harper as “a bright, joyful, and deeply loved 10-year-old” who was “adored” by her younger sister.
“As a family, we are shattered, and words cannot capture the depth of our pain,” the statement read.
The 10-year-old’s parents said that they were focused on healing in the wake of the shooting, but added that they hoped Harper’s memory would fuel action that might prevent shootings going forward.
“No family should ever have to endure this kind of pain,” Harper’s parents wrote. “We urge our leaders and communities to take meaningful steps to address gun violence and the mental health crisis in this country.”
Fletcher Merkel’s father, Jesse Merkel, tearfully read a statement on Thursday outside of the church where his son was killed, saying the eight-year-old loved his family and friends and enjoyed fishing, cooking and playing any sport.
Because of the shooter’s actions, Merkel said, “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.”
“Please remember Fletcher for the person he was and not the act that ended his life,” Merkel said.
Even as Merkel mourned the loss of his son, he said he was thankful for the “swift and heroic actions” of adults and students inside the church without whom “this could have been a tragedy of many magnitudes more.”
Minneapolis doctors and law enforcement echoed Merkel’s sentiment throughout the day on Thursday, describing the grueling escape children and teachers endured, as well as the heroic rescue efforts that saved countless lives.
When one of the students who was injured during the shooting went in for a CT scan on Wednesday, she was visibly distressed.
Without hesitation, a nurse at the hospital who was not assigned to respond to the mass casualty event sat with the young girl throughout the procedure — even though safety protocols stipulate that medical staff should clear the room to prevent radiation exposure.
The nurse “put a little lead on, stayed there and held her hand and held her hair while she went through scanners so she didn’t have to go through alone,” Dr. Jon Gayken, one of the head trauma surgeons at Hennepin County Medical Center, said.
Several medical first responders — many of whom were stationed just blocks away from the church — have children enrolled at the Catholic school, officials announced on Thursday.
“Those are the types of things we witnessed yesterday,” Gayken said.
Despite the unimaginable tragedy of the day, Gayken said, there were far less casualties than there could have been.
Marty Scheerer, the chief of Hennepin County Emergency Medical Services, credited “unrecognized heroes,” like the children and teachers in the church who followed their active shooter safety trainings, despite the chaotic and incessant hail of gunfire.
Children “protecting other children” often “laid on the floor and covered each other up” while teachers ushered kids to safety.
“That was key,” Scheerer said.
The first police officer entered the church “without hesitation” just minutes after the 911 call reported the shooting, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said.
Parishioners told O’Hara that it was “the first time that the children and others there had any sense that they might be safe and survive.”
When officers entered the church, they encountered children “that had blood on them from not because they were injured, but because of blood pressure from other kids,” O’Hara said at a separate news conference later in the day.
“There’s going to be countless lessons of bravery, from young children all the way up to elders,” O’Hara said.
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