A parent hugs her son after a shooting at the Church of Annunciation in Minneapolis on Wednesday. Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Star Tribune via AP
An inscription above the doors of the Church of Annunciation in south Minneapolis proclaims its sanctuary to be “the House of God and the gate of Heaven.”
But on Wednesday, the sense of tranquility that parishioners and students have long found in the heart of the church and Catholic school was literally shattered when a shooter opened fire through its stained-glass windows.
Weston Halsne, 10, told reporters he was sitting two seats away from the windows that surround the sanctuary celebrating the start-of-school Mass, when shots began.
“It was like right beside me … I think I got gunpowder on my neck,” he said. “The first one, I was like, ‘What is that?’ and then I heard it again and I just ran under the pew.”
The fifth grader said he covered his head as his friend dove on top of him.
“(He) saved me though because he laid on top of me, but he got hit,” Weston said, adding the boy was hit in the back.
“He’s really brave, and I hope he’s good in the hospital.”
At least two children have been killed and 17 others – including 14 kids and 3 parishioners in their 80s – were injured during what police have described as a “deliberate act of violence.”
The shooter, who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, had purchased the weapons “recently” and did not appear to have a criminal history, authorities have said.
‘Can you just please just hold my hand?’
Patrick Scallen still lives in the house he grew up in, about a block away from Annunciation. He attended the school as a child – just as his father did before him – and he told CNN he’s proud of the century-old church and school’s legacy in the community.
Just this morning, Scallen said he saw a family of kids who go to the school.
