A 10-year-old student at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis said his classmate shielded him during Wednesday morning’s mass shooting, taking a bullet in the process.
Fifth grader Weston Halsne was seated just a few feet from the stained-glass windows of Annunciation Catholic Church when gunfire erupted during a back-to-school Mass. Two children were killed, and 17 others were injured—14 of them students.
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Student’s Account
“It was like, shots fired and then we kind of like got under pews,” Halsne told WCCO. “They shot through the stained glass windows, I think, and it was really scary.”
He said his friend Victor lay on top of him and was hit by gunfire. “My friend, Victor, like saved me though. Because he laid on top of me. But he got hit. I was super scared for him. But I think now he’s OK.”
“I hope you’re OK and I’m praying for you,” Halsne added in a message to his classmate.
Aftermath of the Attack
Halsne described waiting five to ten minutes before moving with classmates to the gym, where staff locked the doors for safety. “I was scared that I wasn’t going to see [my mom]. Because I didn’t know what was happening really, I was just in shock,” he said.
The shooting sparked a massive law enforcement response along West 54th Street between Harriet and Garfield avenues. Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said the gunman approached from outside the building and fired a rifle through the church windows at children and worshippers.
Family Reaction
“Inexplainable, and it happens way too much,” said Michael Simpson, Halsne’s grandfather.
“And when it happens to your own children, then you’re going to think very differently about this. There’s only one way to think about it. There’s nothing this precious little boy ever did to deserve this.”
