The 2 college students killed within the Annunciation Catholic School mass shooting had been an 8-year-old boy who beloved to fish and cook dinner and a 10-year-old woman recognized for her laughter and kindness.
Fletcher Merkel, 8, and Harper Moyski, 10, died when the shooter opened hearth by means of the home windows of the Minneapolis faculty’s church on Wednesday morning, their households confirmed Thursday.
Fletcher’s father urged mother and father to “give your children an additional hug” as he remembered his son.
An undated picture of Fletcher Merkel.
Merkel Household
“Yesterday, a coward determined to take our 8-year-old son, Fletcher, away from us,” Jesse Merkel mentioned throughout remarks exterior the varsity on Thursday, publicly figuring out his son as one of many victims killed within the “mindless act of violence” carried out by a 23-year-old former pupil on the faculty. “Due to their actions, we are going to by no means be allowed to carry him, discuss to him, play with him, and watch him develop into the great younger man he was on the trail to turning into.”
Jesse Merkel mentioned his son beloved his household, buddies, fishing, cooking “and any sport that he was allowed to play.”
The daddy added, “Whereas the opening in our hearts and lives won’t ever be stuffed, I hope that in time, our household can discover therapeutic. I pray that the opposite sufferer’s household can discover some semblance of the identical.”
An undated picture of Harper Moyski.
Michael Moyski and Jackie Flavin
Harper’s mother and father remembered her as a “shiny, joyful, and deeply beloved 10-year-old whose laughter, kindness, and spirit touched everybody who knew her.”
“Our hearts are damaged not solely as mother and father, but in addition for Harper’s sister, who adored her massive sister and is grieving an unimaginable loss,” her mother and father, Michael Moyski and Jackie Flavin, mentioned in an announcement supplied to ABC Minneapolis station KSTP. “As a household, we’re shattered, and phrases can’t seize the depth of our ache.”
Objects together with dolls are positioned at a memorial at Annunciation Catholic Church after Wednesday’s faculty taking pictures, Aug. 28, 2025, in Minneapolis.
Abbie Parr/AP
Eighteen different individuals — together with 15 children — had been additionally injured within the taking pictures and are anticipated to outlive, police mentioned.
The victims’ households praised the response to the mass taking pictures.
Jesse Merkel mentioned he is heard many tales of the “swift and heroic actions of kids and adults alike, from contained in the church,” he mentioned. “With out these individuals and their selfless actions, this might have been a tragedy of many magnitudes extra. For these individuals, I am grateful.”
Harper’s mother and father mentioned they “additionally grieve for our fellow Annunciation household in mourning and for these harm” and that they’re “grateful for the employees and first responders who did a lot for thus many yesterday.”
Jesse Merkel, the daddy of 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel, speaks exterior Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis, Aug. 28, 2025.
KSTP
Jesse Merkel requested that individuals give their kids “an additional hug and kiss immediately” and that his son is remembered “for the particular person he was, and never the act that ended his life.”
Harper’s mother and father mentioned it is essential that their daughter’s reminiscence “fuels motion” whereas imploring for significant change to stop an analogous tragedy and “work towards a safer, extra compassionate world.”
“No household ought to ever must endure this sort of ache,” they mentioned. “We urge our leaders and communities to take significant steps to deal with gun violence and the psychological well being disaster on this nation. Change is feasible, and it’s mandatory — in order that Harper’s story doesn’t develop into yet one more in an extended line of tragedies.”
Folks go to a memorial to yesterday’s taking pictures victims in entrance of Annunciation Catholic Church on August 28, 2025 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Scott Olson/Getty Photographs
The taking pictures occurred throughout a Mass that marked the primary week of faculty, police mentioned.
The shooter — recognized as 23-year-old Robin Westman — died on the scene from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police mentioned. Westman had attended the varsity, and Westman’s mom beforehand labored within the parish, police mentioned.
A motive stays underneath investigation, and police mentioned they’ve not recognized a selected set off for why the kids on the church had been focused.
Investigators decided that Westman “harbored an entire lot of hate in direction of all kinds of individuals and teams of individuals,” and likewise “had a deranged obsession with earlier mass shooters,” Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara advised ABC Information Dwell on Thursday.
