When Pat Scallen heard gunshots across the nook from his Minneapolis residence, “I did not know precisely what it was at first, however after concerning the tenth shot, I knew one thing was mistaken,” he recalled.
Scallen raced to the Annunciation Catholic Faculty, the place he mentioned he noticed {a magazine} on the bottom by the church.
“It was eerily quiet. After which I instantly turned and ran to the entrance of the church, and proper at the moment everybody was popping out. And it was chaotic,” Scallen instructed “Good Morning America” on Thursday.
Legislation enforcement officers arrange obstacles after a taking pictures at Annunciation Church, which can be residence to a an elementary college, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, August 27, 2025.
Ben Brewer/Reuters
Streaming from the church have been kids struggling emotional and bodily wounds, he mentioned, including that he noticed a boy and a lady who had been shot within the head in addition to a lady shot within the neck.
“They have been very frightened. They needed their mother and pa,” he mentioned. “And I simply, I sat them down and simply tried to maintain them calm, and I used to be watching them near see if there’d be any change of their standing.”
Scallen mentioned the lady shot within the head requested him, “Please simply maintain my hand.”
“I did,” he mentioned.
An 8-year-old and 10-year-old who have been sitting in pews have been killed and 18 others were injured in the Wednesday morning mass shooting, police mentioned. The shooter opened hearth by a church window throughout a Mass that marked the primary week of college.
An officer with the Hennepin County Sheriff seems on exterior a taking pictures at Annunciation Church, which can be residence to an elementary college, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, August 27, 2025.
Ben Brewer/Reuters
Fifteen of the injured victims have been children ages 6 to 15, and the three adults who have been shot have been parishioners of their 80s, police mentioned. All of these injured are anticipated to outlive, police mentioned.
The shooter, recognized by the FBI as 23-year-old Robin Westman, died on the scene from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police mentioned. A motive stays beneath investigation.
Scallen mentioned the Annunciation Catholic Faculty is “one of many premiere colleges within the metropolis and state” and is “integral to the neighborhood.”
“There is a spirit right here, and I do know they’re going to be grieving for awhile, however this place, they’re going to come again,” he mentioned.
