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VP Vance pays respects at Annunciation Catholic Church, issues prayer request

VP Vance pays respects at Annunciation Catholic Church, issues prayer request

McKenna Snow
McKenna Snow
· 4 min read
VP Vance pays respects at Annunciation Catholic Church, issues prayer request

US Vice President JD Vance and Second Lady Usha Vance on Sept. 3 visited Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis, where they paid respects to the victims of the deadly Aug. 27 shooting and met with grieving families.

Upon arrival, the Vances both carried flowers to the front of the church and placed them among hundreds of other bouquets lining the sidewalk. 

The Vances met with several families. According to Daily Wire White House correspondent Mary Margaret Olohan, the Vances also spoke on the phone with student Weston Halsne, who is recovering from surgery after being struck by a bullet in the attack. The Vances also visited Lydia Kaiser, a victim who is recovering from surgery at the Children’s Minnesota Hospital.

At the end of the visit, Vance told FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul that it was both heartbreaking and rewarding to meet with the parents, the principal, and the pastor at Annunciation. 

“These parents opened up their lives, opened up their hearts, and they told me about their kids, they told me about their families, they told me about the community supporting them,” Vance said. 

He said that he met with the parents of 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel, who was killed in the attack, and accompanied Fletcher’s father to visit the chapel where Fletcher lost his life. It was the first time Fletcher’s father had gone into the chapel since the attack, Vance said. 

He also met with the family of 10-year-old Harper Moyski, who lost her life in the attack. Reflecting on the conversations, he said the parents of the victims all asked why people so often talk about the shooter and not enough about the children who lost their lives. 

>> Parents of children killed in the Minneapolis Catholic school shooting offer first public statements <<

Vance emphasized that the children “were people with hopes and dreams in their own right. I wish that we talked a lot more about Harper, who was a beautiful young girl. She had a beautiful smile, the kind of smile that would turn a bad day into a good one, and was very proud of the fact that she just had her First Communion a couple years ago.” 

He also emphasized the importance of talking about Fletcher, who he said “was a very rambunctious and energetic kid, was a beautiful kid, [and] had an incredible head of hair…. We should talk more about these kids. We should talk less about this shooter…. we should talk about these kids, their hopes and their dreams, and the fact that they had a full life ahead of them that was cut short.”

Speaking to the reporters, Vance also issued a prayer request that he said is “straight from the parents and straight from the families to my fellow Americans.”

He explained that Lydia Kaiser remains in serious condition and that her family, as well as the families of Fletcher and Harper, asked for prayers for her recovery. 

“So to my fellow Americans, if you’re the praying type, say a prayer for this innocent girl who’s actually in surgery right now, that the swelling will go down, that she will be okay, because she’s still in a fight for her life,” Vance said.

The Vice President also shared about honoring the grieving families. 

“Speaking to my fellow Americans who are parents in particular, there is nothing that you can say that can take away the grief that these parents are dealing with, there is no word that can possibly describe the feeling, or the emotion, or the heartbreak,” Vance said.

“One of the ways that I’m going to try to honor the parents and the children that they lost is by being a better dad,” Vance said, “and hugging my kids tight tonight, and making sure that they know that their dad loves them. Because there are two families who are not going to get that opportunity ever again.”

VP Vance pays respects at Annunciation Catholic Church, issues prayer request | Zeale