When Pat Scallen heard gunshots across the nook from his Minneapolis residence, “I did not know precisely what it was at first, however after concerning the tenth shot, I knew one thing was unsuitable,” he recalled.
Scallen raced to the Annunciation Catholic College, the place he stated 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.
Regulation enforcement officers arrange obstacles after a capturing at Annunciation Church, which can be residence to a an elementary college, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, August 27, 2025.
Ben Brewer/Reuters
Streaming from the church had been kids struggling emotional and bodily wounds, he stated, including that he noticed a boy and a lady who had been shot within the head in addition to a lady shot within the neck.
“They had been very frightened. They needed their mother and pa,” he stated. “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 stated the woman shot within the head requested him, “Please simply maintain my hand.”
“I did,” he stated.
An 8-year-old and 10-year-old who had been sitting in pews had been killed and 18 others were injured in the Wednesday morning mass shooting, police stated. The shooter opened hearth by means of a church window throughout a Mass that marked the primary week of faculty.
An officer with the Hennepin County Sheriff appears on exterior a capturing at Annunciation Church, which can be residence to an elementary college, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, August 27, 2025.
Ben Brewer/Reuters
Fifteen of the injured victims had been children ages 6 to 15 , and the three adults who had been shot had been parishioners of their 80s, police stated. All of these injured are anticipated to outlive, police stated.
The shooter, recognized by the FBI as 23-year-old Robin Westman, died on the scene from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police stated. A motive stays underneath investigation.
Scallen stated the Annunciation Catholic College 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 stated.
