Newly released transcripts have revealed the terror of people trapped inside the Minneapolis Church where a mass shooting took place in August.
Robin Westman opened fire on the church next to Annunciation Catholic School on the morning of August 27, leaving two children dead and 18 injured.
The first 911 calls came at 8.27am, moments after the first gunshots. Inside, the children were just getting ready to pray.
“There’s like gunshots all over,” one unidentified caller said, in the transcripts obtained by Fox News. “Must have been 20 all together in a bunch of different bursts,” the caller continued.
Other calls described what Westman was wearing and the gun being used. One described the suspect as being dressed “in head-to-toe camo gear” with “black goggles … standing in place next to the church.”
Meanwhile, 911 calls were coming from adults inside the church too.
“We need, we need medical assistance ASAP. We got multiple people have been shot,” a woman told operators.
One of the callers, fourth-grade teacher Becca Hare, confirmed to responders that people were injured.
“I don’t know how many people are here, but there are people hurt,” Hare said. “Stay down, stay down, OK … I’m going to go help. I’m going to go help.”
The transcripts also revealed 911 responders telling the terrified callers to remain hidden as adults tried to keep children quiet under church pews, Fox News reports.
Another teacher, which the transcript identified only as “Diane”, described hiding with children in the basement.
“We were downstairs having crackers, and, all of a sudden, we heard gunshots. … There’s a whole bunch of kids started coming in ’cause they’re running from everywhere,” she said. “We’re in the church basement, locked in the classroom right now.”
The murdered children were later identified by their families as 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel and 10-year-old Harper Moyski. The 15 children injured were aged six to 15 with three parishioners in their 80s also hurt in the attack.
The shooting inevitably sparked political debate in the U.S. with ongoing frustration at the lack of any legislative action to tackle America’s mass shooting and gun violence problem.
At the time, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey told Americans not to call for prayers in the wake of the shooting at Annunciation Catholic School: “Don’t just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now, these kids were literally praying. It was the first week of school, they were in a church.”
And Vice President J.D. Vance was heckled during a visit to church to meet parents of the victims, with protestors calling the vice president a “coward” and imploring the Trump administration to “do better” on gun safety.
