Statement on the mass shooting at Annunciation in Minneapolis

Photo: annunciationmsp.org.

I am making this statement as Clerk of Session of Edgewater Presbyterian Church and as an Elder of the Presbyterian Church (USA).

We are heartbroken and shaken by the terrible violence that took place on Wednesday morning, August 27, 2025, at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis.

During a morning Mass, meant to call on the Holy Spirit to start the school year, a gunman opened fire through the church windows.

Two young children, only 8 and 10 years old, were killed and 17 others, most of them children, were injured.

The shooter, armed with multiple guns, also took his own life.

We grieve with the families who have lost loved ones. We pray for the children and others who are wounded.

We stand with the Annunciation Catholic School and Church community as they face this time of pain and mourning.

This kind of violence is not inevitable. It happens because guns are too easy to get and too widely available in our country.

As Christians, we believe prayer is not only words. Prayer must lead to action. If we pray for peace and safety, then we must also work for peace and safety.

That means demanding change.

We call on people to speak up and press our leaders to change our gun laws.

Stronger and more sensible laws can help protect our children, our schools, our churches, and our neighborhoods—and be a memorial to all those innocents who lost their lives.

We pray for healing and comfort for those who are grieving.

We pray for courage for all of us to act so that future tragedies can be prevented.