It was the first week of school, the kind of late August morning where the air in Minneapolis usually smells like fresh notebooks and optimism. Instead, at roughly 8:27 a.m. on August 27, 2025, the neighborhood of Windom was shattered.
The shooting at Annunciation Catholic School didn't happen in a hallway or a cafeteria. It happened through the stained glass.
You've probably seen the headlines, but the sheer cruelty of the mechanics is what sticks with people who live here. The shooter, identified as 23-year-old Robin M. Westman, didn't even step foot inside the sanctuary. He stood outside and fired dozens of rounds from a rifle directly through the windows while students were sitting in the pews for an all-school Mass.
The Morning Everything Changed at Annunciation
Mass had started at 8:15 a.m. It’s a tradition. The kids from preschool through eighth grade gather to start their week with prayer. It is supposed to be the safest place on earth.
Then the glass started exploding.
Honestly, witnesses said it sounded like firecrackers at first. A prank, maybe? But when the screaming started, the reality hit. Principal Matt DeBoer and the teachers reacted instantly, shoving children under pews. It was a scene of localized heroism in the middle of a nightmare. One student, a fifth-grader named Weston Halsne, later told reporters that his friend took a bullet while trying to shield him.
The shooter had actually barricaded at least two of the church’s exterior exit doors from the outside using lumber. He wanted to make sure no one could get out easily.
Lives Lost and the Aftermath
By the time the smoke cleared, two young lives were over. Fletcher Merkel, just 8 years old, and Harper Moyski, who was 10.
Think about those ages for a second. Second and fourth grade. Fletcher was known for his "Fletcher hair"—this messy, joyful look that his parents, Mollie and Jesse, talked about during a memorial event called FletcherFest in early 2026. He’d put his uniform on backward sometimes because he was just so excited to get to school.
Aside from the two fatalities, the toll was staggering:
- 30 people injured in total.
- 26 of those were schoolchildren.
- 3 elderly parishioners in their 80s were hit by gunfire.
- 116 rifle casings were recovered from the scene.
Westman, the gunman, took his own life in the parking lot behind the church before police could engage him. He was a former student. He graduated from Annunciation in 2017. His mother had even worked at the school as an administrative assistant for years.
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The Motive and the "Digital Paper Trail"
Investigators, led by the Minneapolis Police Department and the FBI, began looking into this as an act of domestic terrorism and an anti-Catholic hate crime.
Westman left behind a trail that’s hard to stomach. He had uploaded videos to YouTube—timed to go live around the time of the attack—showing off an arsenal that included an AR-15, a 12-gauge shotgun, and a 9mm pistol.
The guns were bought legally. That’s the part that keeps local activists up at night.
On the magazines and the weapons themselves, he’d scrawled hate speech. Anti-Catholic, antisemitic, and racist phrases. He even wrote the names of previous mass shooters. It was a calculated, hateful performance designed to traumatize a community he used to be a part of.
Why the Safety Debate is Heating Up
This wasn't the only violence that week. Just 24 hours earlier, a shooting outside Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Minneapolis left one person dead and six injured.
For the Catholic community in Minnesota, this felt like an assault on their way of life. For years, the Minnesota Catholic Conference had been pushing for more state funding for school safety. They’d asked for a slice of a $50 million safety program, but because they are a nonpublic school, the legislative wheels turned slowly.
A Quick Reality Check on School Security
- Public vs. Private: In Minnesota, many state-funded safety grants are locked behind "public-only" clauses.
- Training: Governor Tim Walz pointed out that private schools do get access to some safety center resources and trainings, but the actual "hard" security—bullet-resistant glass, armed guards—often has to be funded by the parish.
- Vulnerability: Experts like James Alan Fox from Northeastern University note that while mass shootings are statistically rare, churches and schools are "soft targets" because they prioritize being welcoming and open.
Moving Forward: What Families Can Actually Do
If you’re a parent in the Twin Cities, or anywhere really, "thoughts and prayers" feels pretty empty right now. Mayor Jacob Frey said it best at a press conference: "These kids were literally praying."
So, what's the move?
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1. Demand Parity in Safety Funding
Regardless of whether a child sits in a public or private desk, they deserve a secure building. Advocacy groups are currently pushing for "vulnerability-neutral" funding. This means security grants would follow the student, not the tax status of the building.
2. Focus on Mental Health Intervention
Westman had a history of mental health struggles that people in his circle were aware of, but it never rose to a level that stopped him from buying a rifle. Red flag laws only work if people know how to use them and if the criteria for intervention are clear.
3. Local Community Resilience
The Annunciation community didn't fold. They created things like "FletcherFest" to reclaim the narrative. They turned an auditorium into a temporary worship space for five months while the church was repaired.
4. Review School Protocols
If your school hasn't updated its lockdown or reunification plan in the last year, ask why. The reunification at Annunciation was chaotic for the first few hours because of the sheer volume of parents rushing to the scene.
The shooting at Annunciation Catholic School is a scar on Minneapolis that won't fade soon. It’s a reminder that safety isn't a given, even in the most sacred of spaces. But seeing hundreds of people wearing "Joy" and "Hope" T-shirts in that school auditorium months later suggests that while the glass broke, the spirit of the neighborhood didn't.
Stay vigilant, keep asking the hard questions of your local reps, and maybe hug your kids a little tighter tonight.
Actionable Next Steps
- Research the "Safe Schools Program" in Minnesota and contact your local representative to advocate for inclusive safety funding for all K-12 students.
- Check with your child’s school administration to ensure their "Active Threat" protocols include exterior door monitoring during public events like school Masses or assemblies.
- Support local organizations like "FletcherFest" or the Annunciation Parent Coalition that are working to turn tragedy into legislative action regarding gun violence.