Family of Two Children, 8 and 10, Killed During the Annunciation Catholic Church Shooting Speak Up

People gather at a memorial for victims of Wednesday’s shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church in south Minneapolis. Two children were killed and 18 other people were injured.

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MINNEAPOLIS — The students were running a little late for their first Mass of the school year at the Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis on Wednesday.

“I checked my watch, it was supposed to start at 8:15. It was 8:18 and they were still filing in,” Cathrine Spandel told NPR on Thursday outside the church’s large stained glass windows. One student was admonished for failing to genuflect before going into the pews, she recalled.

Spandel was in church that day for the Mass and fellowship that follows it. The ceremony had begun and the worshippers finished the psalm “You have Searched Me and You Know Me Lord” when the shots rang out.

In the wake of unimaginable loss, two grieving families are turning sorrow into a plea for change—determined that a single violent act will not define their children’s lives.

In a community torn apart by bloodshed inside a sacred space, the families of 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel and 10-year-old Harper Moyski are remembering their children’s boundless spirits and the devastation left behind after a gunman opened fire during a school Mass at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis.

The lives of Fletcher and Harper were cut short when a 23-year-old former student opened fire through the church’s stained-glass windows. The children were just steps from their classrooms when the attack began. Outside the school, Fletcher’s father, Jesse Merkel, delivered a raw and powerful tribute: “Yesterday, a coward decided to take our eight-year-old son, Fletcher, away from us. Because of their actions, we will never be allowed to hold him, talk to him, play with him, and watch him grow into the wonderful young man he was on the path to becoming.” He described a boy happiest with a fishing pole or in the kitchen, bright and joyful, deeply loved. He asked the public to “remember Fletcher for the person he was and not the act that ended his life,” urging parents everywhere to give their kids “an extra hug and kiss today.”

Spandel first thought it was firecrackers. A prank, she said. But she soon realized it was gunfire.

“Even before the principal yelled, ‘Get down!’ I flew to the ground,” she said.

What unfolded was a shooting that left two children dead, including 10-year-old Harper Moyski and 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel, who was sitting just four pews in front of Spandel.

Eighteen more people were hurt in the violence, including three adult parishioners who were in their 80s and 15 children, authorities said.

It also shattered the sense of peace in the community around Annunciation Catholic School, which has seen generations of students move through its doors. Spandel is an alumni herself. She graduated in 1973 and has remained an active member of the parish.