As victims of the Minneapolis school shooting filled the halls of Hennepin Healthcare, one ICU nurse’s professional duty turned into personal heartbreak when her critically injured 12-year-old daughter was wheeled in after the attack that left two children dead.
On August 27, before taking his own life, 23-year-old Robin (formerly Robert) Westman launched an attack on the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis, firing rounds from a rifle through the stained glass windows of the church where students had gathered for morning mass.
“What’s particularly heinous and cowardly about this is these children were slaughtered by a shooter who could not see them,” Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara told the media, per CNN.
The shooter “was standing outside of the building firing through very narrow church windows on the level where they would line up with the pews,” O’Hara added of Westman, a trans woman who previously attended the same school.
Victims
Authorities confirmed that two young children – Fletcher Merkel, 8, and 10-year-old Harper Moyski – were killed, while 15 children and three elderly parishioners were injured, ABC News reports.
“No words can capture what we have gone through, what we are going through, and what we will go through in the coming days and weeks. But we will navigate this – together,” Parish of the Annunciation shared in a statement.
Sophia and her brother
Among the most critically injured was Sophia Forchas, 12, a seventh-grade student at the school, who was struck by gunfire and required immediate emergency surgery.
Her little brother Anthony was also at the school during the shooting, but was “physically unharmed,” according to a GoFundMe campaign that’s raised $683,576 to support the family.
But “the trauma of witnessing such a terrifying event – and knowing his sister was critically injured – is something no child should ever experience,” the fundraiser explains.
Mom learns daughter critically injured
Adding to the heartbreak, Sophia – described as “a bright, kind, and full of life young girl”– was transported to the hospital’s intensive care unit, where her own mother, a pediatric critical care nurse was working at the time.
The GoFundMe explains that the mother had “arrived at work to help during the tragedy, before knowing it was her children’s school that was attacked, and that her daughter was critically injured.”
Still in critical condition
“Sophia’s mother was called into work, and only to find out when she arrived that her daughter was one of the victims, unfortunately,” Father Timothy Sas of St. Mary’s Greek Orthodox Church told ABC News.
“No priest is ever prepared enough to offer consolation for a moment like this,” said Sas, the family’s longtime parish priest. Sas later shared in a Facebook statement that he spent significant time at the hospital with Sophia’s family while she was in surgery.
“Currently, Sophia has passed through the difficult and long surgery but remains in a critical situation,” he wrote, while the GoFundMe explained that “her medical team is doing everything they can to stabilize her. Her road ahead will be long, uncertain, and incredibly difficult – but she is strong, and she is not alone.”
Sophia remains in critical care.
The mass shooting at Annunciation Church has reignited conversations around gun violence, school safety, and mental health across Minneapolis and beyond. For the Forchas family, however, the focus remains on Sophia’s recovery and navigating the trauma that has upended their lives.
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