One year after Annunciation: Healing and the push to prevent gun violence

Thursday will mark one year since the shooting at Annunciation Church and School in Minneapolis when a shooter opened fire during a back-to-school Mass. One hundred and sixteen bullets shattered windows of the building in less than two minutes.

Two children, 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel and 10-year-old Harper Moyski, were killed. Twenty-eight other people were injured.

On Monday, MPR News host Angela Davis talked with two parents of children who attend the school about how they plan to remember Aug. 27, 2025.

“It's feeling really heavy,” said Brittany Haeg, whose first-grade son was shot last August and spent several days in intensive care. “We have three kids, and they're all very different ages and stages, and they feel very different about how they want to spend the day. And so, I think our day is about contingencies and contingencies for our contingencies. So we have a loose plan and a lot of adults, and we have staffed our house with friendly faces who are going to hang out there, so that we can sort of touch in and touch out throughout the day.”

Haeg co-chairs the Annunciation Light Alliance, a nonprofit founded by parents to build safer communities for children, with Kristen Neville, who founded the organization.

Neville is in a blended family with five children who attend Annunciation Catholic School. Like Haeg, she plans to lean into how her children are feeling. She also said she hopes to spend time with other Annunciation families.

“I think our hope is to be able to spend time together with other Annunciation families. It's a comfort, and I think it's also a part of the healing journey that we have. I have a really strong sense of desire to want to give back to the community on that day, which is very much associated with what Annunciation is asking, right? People come and they ask us, ‘What can we do on this day? What are you doing?’ It's a day really focused on remembrance, but it's also focused on moving your feet and on prayer. And so, I will be doing that, kind of working in the community. There's a really beautiful event that's been planned at Pearl Park by some of our representatives, and so I'll be there packing some kits for youth that experience homelessness right now.”

Annunciation families push for laws to protect kids

While reflecting on the last year, Haeg and Neville also talked about continuing their advocacy for changes that keep kids safe.

During the legislative session earlier this year, the Annunciation Light Alliance took a nonpartisan stance and sought a layered approach to preventing gun violence with hopes of gaining support from both sides of the aisle. Parents backed a ban on assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines, as well as more mental health support funding, funding for school safety programs and safeguards for children online.

The Minnesota Senate, with its slight DFL majority, passed a comprehensive package with firearm restrictions and school safety provisions in early May.

However, the state House — split 67-67 between parties — did not bring the bill to the floor for a vote. Companion bills also failed to make it out of committee.