By STEVE KARNOWSKI and MARK VANCLEAVE
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday met with families and victims of a deadly shooting at a Catholic church in Minneapolis, and heard a heartfelt plea for action from at least one of those families.
Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, visited the Annunciation Catholic Church one week after an attacker opened fire during the first Mass of the school year for students of the nearby Annunciation Catholic School.
According to Vance’s office, the vice president and second lady Usha Vance met privately with family members of victims, the pastor of the parish and the school principal. They included the parents of the two children who died, Fletcher Merkel, 8, and Harper Moyski, 10, and families of some of the 21 people who were injured.
The couple also visited the church sanctuary, where the shootings took place, to pay their respects to the victims and their families, and laid bouquets at a memorial outside. They paused to read messages chalked on the church steps, including. “God Heals The Broken Hearted,” “We Love you,” and “Show Love.”
“I have never had a day that will stay with me like this day did,” Vance told reporters.
Parents plead for action
The Vances also went to Children’s Hospital, where several victims were treated, and met Lydia Kaiser, who is recovering from surgery. Her parents urged Vance to use his position to find real solutions to gun violence.
“We disagree about so many things,” her father, Harry Kaiser, a gym teacher at the school, told reporters, reading from a letter he wrote to Vance. “… But on just this one issue of gun violence, will you please promise me — as a father and a Catholic — that you will earnestly support the study of what is wrong with our culture — that we are the country that has the worst mass shooter problem?”
The parents did not take questions. But mother Leah Kaiser cited a proverb quoted by Principal Matthew DeBoer and many others in the days since the shootings, “When you pray, move your feet.” It’s an expression of the idea that thoughts and prayers are not enough.
“Vice President Vance, you have enormous authority,” she continued. “Please use this moment to move your feet and transcend our political divides to promote peace and unity and hope. This is what the people of the United States will hold you accountable to.”
Vance refuses to comment on Minnesota gun laws
Some family and neighbors gathered nearby as the Vances arrived at the church, holding signs calling for bans on assault weapons. One read, “Pro-Life = Pro-Gun Safety.” Another referred to comments by Pope Leo on Sunday, “Listen to the Pope, End the Pandemic of Arms.”
“It keeps happening over and over and over, and nothing changes,” said Kacie Sharpe. Her 8-year-old son, Trip, considered Fletcher his best friend, and was sitting nearby when he was shot and killed. “And it’s the most helpless feeling in the world to know that you can’t send your kids to school and have them be safe.”
Vance later declined to weigh in on how Minnesota lawmakers or Democratic Gov. Tim Walz should respond to the tragedy, including the governor’s stated intention to call a special session of the Legislature to address gun and school safety.
“I would just say, take the concerns of these parents seriously,” Vance told reporters. “I think all of us, Democrat, Republican and independent, want these school shootings to happen less frequently. Hopefully there’s some steps that we can take to make that happen.”
The meeting at the church lasted roughly an hour and 45 minutes. As Vance left, his motorcade rolled past a few dozen protesters, several holding signs saying, “Hate Won’t Make America Great.”
Young victim undergoes surgery
Vance also spoke by phone with one of the children who was injured, 10-year-old Weston Halsne, who had surgery at Children’s on Wednesday to remove a bullet fragment from his neck and was unavailable for an in-person visit the hospital said.
“The procedure went well, and Weston is expected to make a full physical recovery,” the boy’s family said in a statement.
Weston, a 5th grader, didn’t realize he was hit at the time. He told reporters after the shots blasted through the windows that he ducked for the pews, covering his head.
“My friend Victor, like, saved me though because he laid on top of me. But he got hit,” he said.
The school has not said when classes will resume or a ceremony will be held to essentially reconsecrate the church so that worship can resume there. The church celebrated its Masses last weekend in the school gym.
Fletcher Merkel’s funeral is set for Sunday at Mount Olivet Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, his family said in a statement Wednesday. Harper Moyski’s arrangements have not been announced.
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