The father of one of the two students killed in the massive shooting of the Annunciation Catholic School urged parents to “give their children an extra hug” when he remembered his son, Fletcher Merkel.
“Yesterday, a coward decided to take our 8 -year -old son, Fletcher, far from us,” said Jesse Merkel during the comments outside the school on Thursday, publicly identifying his son as one of the victims killed in the “act of non -meaningless violence” carried out by a former 23 -year -old student at school. “Due to his actions, we will never allow us to sustain him, talk to him, play with him and see him become the wonderful young woman who was on the way to become.”
Jesse Merkel said his son loved his family, friends, fishing, kitchen “and any sport that was allowed to play.”
Jesse Merkel, the father of Fletcher Merkel, 8, speaks outside the Catholic Church Annunciation in Minneapolis, August 28, 2025.
KSSTP
“While the hole in our hearts and lives will never be filled, I hope that over time, our family can find healing,” said the father. “I pray that the other victim’s family can find an appearance of the same.”
Fletcher and a 10 -year -old boy were killed and 18 people, including 15 children, were injured when the shooter opened fire through the windows of the Church of the Minneapolis school on Wednesday morning. All injured victims are expected to survive, police said.
Jesse Merkel praised the “heroic” response to mass shooting.
“During the last day, I have heard many stories that tell the rapid and heroic actions of children and adults equally, from the inside of the church,” he said. “Without these people and their selfless actions, this could have been a tragedy of many magnitudes for these people, I am grateful.”
Written messages are left in Hearts in an improvised memorial in the Annunciation Catholic Church after the shooting at Wednesday, Thursday, August 28, 2025 in Minneapolis.
Taylor Dunn/ ABC News
He asked people to give their children “a hug and an extra kiss today” and that their son is remembered “by the person who was, and not the act that ended his life.”
The shooting occurred during a mass that marked the first week of school, police said.
The shooter, identified as Robin Westman, 23, died at the scene of a self -inflicted gunshot wound, police said. Westman had attended school, and Westman’s mother previously worked in the parish, police said.
People visit a monument to yesterday’s shooting victims in front of the Annunciation Catholic Church on August 28, 2025 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Scott Olson/Getty Images
A reason remains under investigation, and the police said they have not identified a specific trigger for why church children were attacked.
The researchers determined that Westman “housed a lot of hatred towards a wide variety of people and groups of people”, and also “had an obsession upset with the previous mass handles,” said the Minneapolis police chief on Thursday, Brian O’Hara, ABC News Live.
