Tim and Katharine Barr kneel and pray at a memorial at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, one day after the Aug. 27, 2025, mass shooting at the school killed two children and injured 17 other people. Photo: Abbie Parr/AP
[Episcopal News Service] Minnesota Bishop Craig Loya issued a statement Aug. 27 on Facebook lamenting the mass shooting earlier in the day that killed two children at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis.
“I am devastated by news of the mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church and School in south Minneapolis this morning,” Loya said in his statement. He also noted that Episcopal congregations in the Minneapolis area have “many close” connections to Annunciation students, faculty and staff. “All of us are feeling the crushing weight of grief.”
The students in preschool through eighth grade were celebrating Mass commemorating the first week of the new school year when the shooter, an alumna, fired through the school’s windows, killing an 8-year-old and a 10-year-old student and injuring at least 17 other people, including 14 children and three adults. One adult and five children remain in critical condition. The shooter died by a self-inflicted gun wound behind the church.
On Aug. 27, Grace Episcopal Church in Minneapolis, located about 1.3 miles north of Annunciation, hosted a prayer vigil for the victims.
St. John’s Episcopal Church in Minneapolis, which is about three miles northwest of Annunciation, reported on Facebook that it has “many layers of connection” with Annunciation, including elementary school alumni, relatives of St. John’s parishioners who attend worship services at Annunciation and Annunciation children who attended St. John’s Peace Frogs summer camp in July.
On Aug. 28 at 5:30 p.m. Central, the Rev. Lisa Wiens Heinsohn, rector of St. John’s, will join Loya and other faith and civic leaders at an interfaith prayer service for the Annunciation community at The Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis. The service is open to the public.
So far in 2025, at least 57 shootings at K-12 schools nationwide have occurred, not including the shooting at Annunciation, according to data compiled by Everytown for Gun Safety, a U.S.-based nonprofit committed to advocating against gun violence.
As of Aug. 8, 286 mass shootings have occurred, according to the Gun Violence Archive, an American nonprofit that catalogs every gun-related death in the United States. A mass shooting is defined as one in which at least four people are shot, either fatally or non-fatally, excluding the shooter.
“The fact that we live in a nation where children are shot and killed while at worship or in school would be unimaginable if it wasn’t so common,” said Loya, who is a member of Bishops United Against Gun Violence, a network of more than 100 Episcopal bishops working to curtail gun violence. “Over decades, our elected officials have proven unwilling to take even the smallest steps toward addressing the fact that in many parts of our nation, it is easier to purchase a gun that is designed only to kill large numbers of humans than it is to get a license or drive a car.”
He continued: “As a nation, we have chosen access to guns over the ability to assemble in our most sacred public spaces without fear. This crushing grief is simply what collective choice costs.”
-Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service. She can be reached at skorkzan@episcopalchurch.org.