{"id":4353,"date":"2025-08-30T10:23:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-30T10:23:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/?p=4353"},"modified":"2025-08-30T10:23:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-30T10:23:07","slug":"when-the-parents-of-the-children-killed-in-the-minneapolis-catholic-school-shting-stood-before-the-cameras-the-crowd-fell-silent-their-trembling-voices-spoke-of-lives-cut-short-futures-stolen-an","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/?p=4353","title":{"rendered":"When the parents of the children killed in the Minneapolis Catholic school sh**ting stood before the cameras, the crowd fell silent. Their trembling voices spoke of lives cut short, futures stolen, and a void no words could fill. One father recalls his son\u2019s love for fishing, cooking, and sports, urging every parent to \u201cgive your kids an extra hug tonight.\u201d Witnesses said the moment felt as if time itself stopped, the weight of grief pressing down on everyone. Outside the school gates, a makeshift shrine grew by the hour \u2014 teddy bears, soccer balls, schoolbooks, toy cars, even fishing lures, left behind by classmates with tear-streaked faces. Crayon notes read simply: \u201cWe miss you, Fletcher.\u201d The sound of children crying, mourners whispering, was almost harder to bear than silence… BUT SURPRISINGLY, WHEN THE MAN FINISHED HIS SPEECH, HE TURNS INSIDE AND COLLAPSES, NEEDING SOMEONE TO HELP AND IS QUICKLY BRING TO SAFETY.. WATCH VIDEO BELOW \ud83d\udc47\ud83d\udc47"},"content":{"rendered":"

The two students killed in the\u00a0Annunciation Catholic School mass shooting\u00a0were an 8-year-old boy who loved to fish and cook and a 10-year-old girl known for her laughter and kindness.<\/p>\n

Fletcher Merkel, 8, and Harper Moyski, 10, died when the shooter opened fire through the windows of the Minneapolis school\u2019s church on Wednesday morning, their families confirmed Thursday.<\/p>\n

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Fletcher\u2019s father urged parents to \u201cgive your kids an extra hug\u201d as he remembered his son.<\/p>\n

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Fletcher Merkel, 8, was one of two students killed in the Annunciation Catholic School mass shooting in Minneapolis, Minnesota.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Merkel Family<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cYesterday, a coward decided to take our 8-year-old son, Fletcher, away from us,\u201d Jesse Merkel said during remarks outside the school on Thursday, publicly identifying his son as one of the victims killed in the \u201csenseless act of violence\u201d carried out by a 23-year-old former student at the school. \u201cBecause of their actions, 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Jesse Merkel said his son loved his family, friends, fishing, cooking \u201cand any sport that he was allowed to play.<\/p>\n

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The father added, \u201cWhile the hole in our hearts and lives will never be filled, I hope that in time, our family can find healing. I pray that the other victim\u2019s family can find some semblance of the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Jesse Merkel, the father of 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel, speaks outside Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis, Aug. 28, 2025.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
KSTP<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Harper\u2019s parents remembered her as a \u201cbright, joyful, and deeply loved 10-year-old whose laughter, kindness, and spirit touched everyone who knew her.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur hearts are broken not only as parents, but also for Harper\u2019s sister, who adored her big sister and is grieving an unimaginable loss,\u201d her parents, Michael Moyski and Jackie Flavin, said in a statement provided to ABC Minneapolis station KSTP. \u201cAs a family, we are shattered, and words cannot capture the depth of our pain.\u201d<\/p>\n

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<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Eighteen other people \u2014 including 15 kids \u2014 were also injured in the shooting and are expected to survive, police said.<\/p>\n

The victims\u2019 families praised the response to the mass shooting.<\/p>\n

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Jesse Merkel said he\u2019s heard many stories of the \u201cswift and heroic actions of children and adults alike, from inside the church,\u201d he said. \u201cWithout these people and their selfless actions, this could have been a tragedy of many magnitudes more. For these people, I\u2019m thankful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harper\u2019s parents said they \u201calso grieve for our fellow Annunciation family in mourning and for those hurt\u201d and that they are \u201cgrateful for the staff and first responders who did so much for so many yesterday.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jesse Merkel asked that people give their children \u201can extra hug and kiss today\u201d and that his son is remembered \u201cfor the person he was, and not the act that ended his life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harper\u2019s parents said it\u2019s important that their daughter\u2019s memory \u201cfuels action\u201d while imploring for meaningful change to prevent a similar tragedy and \u201cwork toward a safer, more compassionate world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo family should ever have to endure this kind of pain,\u201d they said. \u201cWe 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 \u2014 so that Harper\u2019s story does not become yet another in a long line of tragedies.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The shooting occurred during a Mass that marked the first week of school, police said.<\/p>\n

The shooter \u2014 identified as 23-year-old Robin Westman \u2014 died at the scene from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said. Westman had attended the school, and Westman\u2019s mother previously worked in the parish, police said.<\/p>\n

A motive remains under investigation, and police said they\u2019ve not identified a specific trigger for why the children at the church were targeted.<\/p>\n

Investigators determined that Westman \u201charbored a whole lot of hate towards a wide variety of people and groups of people,\u201d and also \u201chad a deranged obsession with previous mass shooters,\u201d Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O\u2019Hara told ABC News Live on Thursday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The two students killed in the\u00a0Annunciation Catholic School mass shooting\u00a0were an 8-year-old boy who loved to fish and cook and a 10-year-old girl known for her laughter… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4354,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4353"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4353\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4355,"href":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4353\/revisions\/4355"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow48.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}