Distressing new 911 dispatch audio is shedding light on the sheer chaos and heartbreak inside Annunciation Catholic School and Church, where two children were killed and 18 others wounded after Robin Westman, 23, opened fire through stained-glass windows during morning Mass.
Desperate calls for help
The first emergency calls came in just before 8:30 a.m., only minutes after the school’s all-student Mass began. Operators’ voices were urgent as they sent dozens of units racing to the church.
“Minneapolis has a possible active shooter,” one operator said. Another urged, “All units, you’re heading to Minneapolis. Mutual aid on a shooting.”
As officers and medics poured into the building, the scale of the tragedy became clear. “Bring all the gauze that you have,” one responder pleaded over the radio. Another reported: “Couple of DOAs, but at least 20 other patients.”
One chilling update relayed: “Two patients with gunshot wounds to their head in front. There’s also a critical patient in the rear of the church.”
Children shielding children
Inside, staff and parents shielded terrified students under pews as older children covered the younger ones. The school principal reportedly ran to secure an outside door while chaos erupted in the sanctuary.
One parent described seeing an officer burst through the doors just minutes after the first shots. “He asked where the shooter was, then ran to find him,” said Shea McAdaragh.
Horror in the pews
Armed with a rifle, shotgun, and pistol, Westman barricaded several doors with wood before firing into the congregation. Two children, Fletcher Merkel, 8, and Harper Moyski, 10, were killed in their pews. Fifteen more children and three adults, all elderly parishioners, were wounded.
Dispatch audio captured the frantic evacuation: “Transporting one 10-year-old male, red trauma. Gunshot wound to the head. He’s currently vitally stable, possibly just grazed.”
Aftermath and grief
Westman died of a self-inflicted gunshot in the church parking lot before police could reach him. Officers, parents, and children were later seen sobbing outside the school as the magnitude of the tragedy sank in.
“The sheer cruelty and cowardice, firing into a church full of children, is absolutely incomprehensible,” said Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara.
The school, which had only just begun its academic year, had chosen “Future filled with hope” as its theme. Now, that hope has been replaced with grief, as a community struggles to heal from a massacre that left behind broken pews, shattered windows, and the haunting sound of first responders fighting to save young lives.
