When Pat Scallen heard gunshots across the nook from his Minneapolis residence, “I did not know precisely what it was at first, however after in regards to the tenth shot, I knew one thing was flawed,” he recalled.
Scallen raced to the Annunciation Catholic Faculty, the place he mentioned he noticed {a magazine} on the bottom by the church.
“It was eerily quiet. After which I instantly turned and ran to the entrance of the church, and proper at the moment everybody was popping out. And it was chaotic,” Scallen advised “Good Morning America” on Thursday.
Legislation enforcement officers arrange boundaries after a taking pictures at Annunciation Church, which can also be residence to a an elementary college, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, August 27, 2025.
Ben Brewer/Reuters
Streaming from the church have been youngsters struggling emotional and bodily wounds, he mentioned, including that he noticed a boy and a woman who had been shot within the head in addition to a woman shot within the neck.
“They have been very frightened. They needed their mother and pop,” he mentioned. “And I simply, I sat them down and simply tried to maintain them calm, and I used to be watching them near see if there’d be any change of their standing.”
Scallen mentioned the woman shot within the head requested him, “Please simply maintain my hand.”
“I did,” he mentioned.
An 8-year-old and 10-year-old who have been sitting in pews have been killed and 18 others have been injured within the Wednesday morning mass taking pictures, police mentioned. The shooter opened hearth by way of a church window throughout a Mass that marked the primary week of college.
An officer with the Hennepin County Sheriff seems on outdoors a taking pictures at Annunciation Church, which can also be residence to an elementary college, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, August 27, 2025.
Ben Brewer/Reuters
Fifteen of the injured victims have been youngsters ages 6 to fifteen, and the three adults who have been shot have been parishioners of their 80s, police mentioned. All of these injured are anticipated to outlive, police mentioned.
The shooter, recognized by the FBI as 23-year-old Robin Westman, died on the scene from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police mentioned. A motive stays below investigation.
Scallen mentioned the Annunciation Catholic Faculty is “one of many premiere colleges within the metropolis and state” and is “integral to the neighborhood.”
“There is a spirit right here, and I do know they will be grieving for awhile, however this place, they will come again,” he mentioned.
