OAN Staff Katherine Mosack and Brooke Mallory
3:37 PM – Thursday, August 28, 2025
Following the tragic shooting at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis on Wednesday, officials, local residents, and school staff gathered at a vigil to honor the young victims.
Among the officials present on Wednesday were Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Governor Tim Walz (D-Minn.). Mayor
Governor Walz described the shooting as an unimaginable and devastating tragedy that has left the state reeling. In response, he ordered that all state flags be flown at half-staff as a mark of respect and mourning for the victims. Walz also called on communities to come together in support of the families affected and to work collectively toward preventing such tragedies in the future.
Another state official, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, strongly condemned the attack as well — calling it a senseless and heartbreaking act of violence that has shaken the entire community. He took the opportunity to seemingly point the finger at firearm ownership, highlighting what he described as an urgent need for stronger measures that would prevent gun violence.
“Thoughts and prayers are not going to cut it. It’s on all of us to see this through,” he said.
Additionally, Frey urged lawmakers and community leaders to take decisive action to implement stricter gun control policies, asserting that public safety must be a top priority.
However, the gunman’s mental health issues and gender dysphoria were never mentioned in either of their speeches.
On Wednesday, students at the K–8 Catholic school assembled for their morning Mass, marking the opening week of the academic year. The service was violently interrupted when a gunman fired shots through the church’s stained-glass windows, tragically claiming the lives of two children, aged eight and ten, and wounding several others.
That evening, parents and children filled the gym at Academy of Holy Angels to pray for the victims and their mourning families. The service’s opening prayer called out to God for help:
“Our children were suddenly and violently taken from us. Come swiftly to our aid,” the priest sang.
Additionally, at the nearby Lynnhurst Park, a large crowd gathered for a candlelit interfaith event where community leaders and elected officials spoke publicly. Many took the opportunity to reaffirm their anti-gun politics in the wake of the horrible tragedy. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey reiterated many of his sentiments from earlier in the day, shifting the blame from the deranged individual to the weapons involved.
“Don’t let anybody tell you that it’s not about guns!” he said, “’cause it is. When you have more guns than people in America, you got a problem.”
The mayor refrained from acknowledging that the killer struggled with gender dysphoria and identified as transgender. Online speculation has also circulated regarding whether the gunman was undergoing hormone therapy, which can exacerbate mental health issues in some. Nonetheless, police confirmed via legal documentation that the biological male shooter requested a legal name change some years ago — citing an intent to identify as female and “reflect that identification.”
“This is not about hating one community, a community that’s pushing back or stopping us. This is not about hating anybody,” Frey went on. “This is about love of our kids, which is the most basic and profound love that you can possibly provide. And so each and every one of us must commit to making this all mean something greater than just the words. We need to have true gun reform right now. Not tomorrow, not the next day.”
Earlier, at a press conference updating the public on the investigation of the shooting, Frey took his time at the podium to direct attention away from the transgender community.
“I have heard about a whole lot of hate that’s being directed at our trans community,” Frey said. “Anybody … who is using this as an opportunity to villainize our trans community or any other community out there has lost their sense of common humanity. We should not be operating from a place of hate for anyone. We should be operating from a place of love for our kids.”
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison later defended the use of the phrase “thoughts and prayers,” which had been criticized by the city’s mayor in the wake of the shooting. However, at the same time, he joined other officials in condemning firearms. He began his speech saying, “Dearly beloved, it is right and it is just for us to send thoughts and prayers to the victims of this horrible crime. But my thoughts and what I’m thinking about is a national ban on assault rifles.”
“I’m praying for a Supreme Court that will not greenlight guns on the streets of our nation,” he went on.
Authorities say they are still working to determine the motive of the now-deceased shooter, even though he had posted multiple video “manifestos” in which he displayed his weapons, ammunition magazines, and disturbing messages scrawled across them. Among the phrases were statements such as “Where is your God?” and “Kill Donald Trump.”
Soon after, the FBI removed the videos for review, but online users quickly reposted them across several platforms, including X. Circulating alongside these clips is the 20-minute recording of the shooter flipping through two notebooks that contained his manifestos.
The writing seemed to have been haphazardly translated into Russian, but there were several drawings of firearms as well. One weapon was drawn to fire at a dove, a Christian symbol of the Holy Spirit.
In the back of one notebook was a sketched layout of the very church where the attack took place, and the video showed the individual driving a knife into the drawing.
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