Minneapolis Mass Shooting: Survivor Recounts Horror at Annunciation Catholic Church
Weston Halsne, a 10-year-old fifth grader, was sitting just feet away from the stained glass windows at Annunciation Catholic Church when a shooter opened fire on Wednesday morning. The mass shooting, which occurred during a Catholic Mass marking the beginning of the school year, resulted in the deaths of two children and injured 17 others, 14 of whom were also children.
Halsne described the terrifying scene, saying, “It was like, shots fired and then we kind of like got under pews. They shot through the stained glass windows, I think, and it was really scary.” He was sitting two seats away from the windows and felt what he thought was gunpowder on his neck. His friend, Victor, saved him by laying on top of him, but Victor was hit in the process.
“My friend Victor like, saved me though. Because he laid on top of me. But he got hit,” Halsne said. “I was super scared for him. But I think now he’s OK.” Halsne expressed his gratitude and concern for his friend, saying, “I hope you’re OK and I’m praying for you.”
Halsne said that after the gunshots, they waited five to 10 minutes before heading to the gym, where the doors were locked to ensure the shooter couldn’t enter. He described how he’d done active shooter drills at school but never at the church. When he got out of the church, his mother was waiting for him, and he was relieved to see her.
“I was super happy, because like, I was scared that I wasn’t going to see her. Because I didn’t know what was happening really, I was just in shock,” he said. The shooting triggered a massive law enforcement response, with Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara stating that the shooter approached from the outside of the building and fired a rifle through the windows towards the children and worshippers.
Investigation and Reaction
Law enforcement sources identified the shooter as 23-year-old Robin Westman, who lived in nearby Richfield. Westman died later from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the back of the church. Reaction is pouring in from local, state, and federal leaders, with Archbishop Bernard Hebda announcing that he received a telegram from Pope Leo XIX, which read in part, “At this extremely difficult time, the Holy Father imparts to the Annunciation Catholic School Community, the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis and the people of the greater Twin Cities metropolitan area his Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of peace, fortitude and consolation in the Lord Jesus.”
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