Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha Vance, visited Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis Sept. 3 and laid flowers at the temporary memorial where two children were killed and 21 other people were injured in an Aug. 27 shooting.
The Vances also met privately with family members affected by the shooting, including the parents of the two children who died: 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel and 10-year-old Harper Moyski.
The shooting took place during Annunciation Catholic School’s first all-school Mass of the academic year. The shooter fired from the church’s exterior through stained-glass windows into the church.
The Vances arrived at the Annunciation campus, which includes Annunciation Catholic School, at 12:05 p.m. With the second lady wearing a black skirt and long-sleeve top and the vice president in a navy suit, they placed a bouquet of colorful flowers tied with a blue ribbon in a bucket amid the large temporary memorial spanning the church’s facade.
They then paused in front of a statue of Mary that stands in front of the church’s entrance before entering the church. The Vances reportedly met with Jesse and Mollie Merkel, Fletcher’s parents; Mike and Jackie Moyski, Harper’s parents; Father Denis Zehren, pastor of Annunciation Catholic Church; and Matt DeBoer, Annunciation school principal.
According to the vice president’s office, the Vances also visited the area within the church where victims were shot to pay their respects to the victims and their families.
A group of protestors were gathered at the corner closest to the church, with an individual chanting “Enough is enough” over a megaphone. Protestors held up signs saying “Listen to the Pope, End the Pandemic of Arms,” “JD Vance Not Welcome” and “Kids Lives Over Guns,” according to a report from the press pool traveling with the vice president.
After leaving Annunciation, the Vances went to Children’s Minnesota Hospital to visit Annunciation student Lydia Kaiser, who is recovering from surgery after being shot, with her family.
Kaiser was injured while protecting her little “buddy” during the Mass, according to her family. Her father, Harry Kaiser, the school’s gym teacher, was in the church during the shooting. He “helped secure the room, to keep children safe, and stuck with them until they were reunited with their families, even while his daughter was entering the emergency room,” according to a GoFundMe site.
Also remaining in the hospital is shooting victim 12-year-old Sophia Forchas, who remains in critical condition with head injuries.
The Catholic Spirit, newspaper of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, contributed to this story.
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