Minneapolis Massacre: Heroic Children Shielded Each Other in Horrific Church Shooting

On August 27, 2025, a horrific shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis claimed the lives of two children, aged 8 and 10, and injured 17 others, including 14 children and three elderly parishioners, during a school Mass. The attacker, 23-year-old Robin Westman, dressed in black and armed with a rifle, shotgun, and pistol, fired dozens of rounds through the church’s stained-glass windows. Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara described the act as “absolutely incomprehensible,” stating, “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.” Westman, who reportedly attended the school years ago, died by suicide at the scene. No bullet casings were found inside, suggesting all shots were fired externally, with locked doors likely saving lives, as O’Hara noted, “The suspect couldn’t get into the church, which likely saved countless lives.”

A YouTube manifesto, timed for release during the attack and later removed, revealed Westman’s planning. Dated late July, a notebook titled “Annunciation from memory” in Cyrillic included a church sketch Westman stabbed with a knife, alongside writings stating, “Things are moving swiftly into place,” and expressing feeling “good about Annunciation” as a “good combo of easy attack for me and devastating tragedy.” Options listed included targeting a school break or Christmas concert. Ammunition bore antisemitic messages like “Israel must fall” and “6 million wasn’t enough,” racist slurs, and calls to “Kill Donald Trump.” Additional writings, recovered from four Twin Cities searches, included anti-Christian phrases like “Where is your God?” Westman’s videos also expressed regret, stating, “I wish I never brain-washed myself,” and “I’m tired of being trans.”

Heroic actions mitigated the tragedy. Teachers and students shielded each other, with Principal Matthew DeBoer praising faculty, saying, “Our teachers were heroes. Children were ducked down, adults were protecting children, older children were protecting younger children.” A 10-year-old survivor told WCCO, “My friend, Victor, saved me though, because he laid on top of me, but he got hit in the back.” Another child, 13-year-old Endre Gunter, shot in the stomach, was comforted by an officer who “prayed with him,” per his mother, Danielle Gunter. Twelve-year-old Sophia Forchas, critically injured, underwent emergency surgery at Hennepin Healthcare, where her mother, a pediatric ICU nurse, worked unaware of the attack’s target. A GoFundMe for Sophia, raising $200,000 in 24 hours, noted, “Her road ahead will be long, uncertain, and incredibly difficult, but she is strong, and she is not alone.”

Hennepin County Medical Center treated 10 patients, including five children and one adult in critical condition, with trauma surgeon Dr. Jon Gayken noting, “There were a lot of gunshot wounds in places that were meant to kill people. It could have been a lot of fatalities.” EMS Chief Marty Scheerer highlighted a child who “took a shotgun blast to his back” shielding another, adding, “Teachers were getting shot at. They were protecting the kids.” Children’s Minnesota treated three children, discharging four others. All survivors are expected to survive, though one child remains “touch and go,” per Dr. Thomas Klemond. A nurse manager climbed into a CT scanner to comfort a scared child, risking radiation exposure highlighting comfort and compassion even during such a difficult time.

The community reeled, with mourners leaving flowers and crosses at memorials. Neighbor Susan Saly, praying at the church, said, “I have no words, no words. It’s a parent and teacher’s worst nightmare.” Peter Romens, a theology student, lamented, “It doesn’t make sense what happened. Just the attack on innocence, on goodness.” Mayor Jacob Frey praised staff heroism, stating, “The way they acted during severe threat and danger was nothing short of heroic.” Amid a 140% rise in U.S. antisemitic incidents since October 2023, per the Anti-Defamation League, the attack joins nearly 400,000 children exposed to school gun violence since 1999. Senator Amy Klobuchar shared a survivor’s account of children shot in the stomach and neck, while a bystander, Pat Scallen, comforted a girl shot in the head who pleaded, “Please just hold my hand.”