Officials praised children at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis who put themselves in harm’s way to protect their friends during a mass shooting on Aug. 27.
Officials at Hennepin County Medical Center spoke to reporters on Aug. 28 with an update about those injured after a man killed two children and injured 17 others when he opened fire during Mass at a Minneapolis Catholic school.
The two children who died were Fletcher Merkel, 8, and Harper Moyski, 10.
The shooter, Robert “Robin” Westman, was identified by law enforcement as a man in his early 20s who died after shooting himself moments after carrying out the mass shooting.
Hennepin County Medical Center’s emergency medical services chief, Martin Scheerer, told reporters that it was “really amazing” to hear about the children who protected their friends and classmates.
“We had one kid who covered up another kid and took a shotgun blast to his back,” he said.
Local media Fox 9 interviewed Weston Halsne, a fifth-grader from the school who described his friend’s heroic act during the shooting. Halsne said the friend, whose name was redacted from the clip, was “laying on top of” him to protect him. He said his friend was shot in the back as a result and was hospitalized.
Halsne described the event as “very scary,” partially because the students had previously only had active shooter drills in their school, never in the church where the violence took place.
“We just got into the pews, and he shot through the stained glass windows,” Halsne said.
Hennepin County Medical Center interim CEO Dr. Tom Klemond offered an update on the wounded, saying there were nine victims of the shooting being cared for at the hospital. He said six of those patients, five of whom were children, were in satisfactory condition.
Two patients—one adult and one child—were in serious condition, and one child was still in critical condition.
Police said the shooter used three different legally purchased firearms to carry out the act. They believe that Westman acted alone.
Dr. Jon Gayken, one of the head trauma surgeons at the hospital, said the damage could have been much worse.
“There were a lot of gunshot wounds in places that were meant to kill people,” Gayken said. “If there is such a thing as a silver lining to this, there were less casualties than what possibly could have been.”
Scheerer credited the children’s training, saying their quick action “paid off” and that it kept children safe.
“They all lay on the floor, they covered each other up,“ he said. ”That was key.”
Police have executed four search warrants at the church and three other locations around the metropolitan area, but say the motive is still unclear.
Hospital officials also told reporters that there is a critical shortage of blood in the state of Minnesota and that the hospital is still using blood to care for the victims. They urged those who are able to donate to do so as soon as possible.
Jacob Burg contributed to this report.
Correction: A previous version of this article misattributed two quotes to a Dr. Thomas Clemens. The correct speaker was Hennepin EMS Chief Martin Scheerer. The Epoch Times regrets the error.
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