Hundreds gather for funeral of Annunciation shooting victim

With his mop of blond hair and big smile, Fletcher Merkel never stopped moving. On Sunday, the 8-year-old boy, who loved fishing and football was laid to rest 11 days after he was killed in a mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church.

More than 1,400 people attended the afternoon service at Mount Olivet Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, packing the pews and spilling into overflow seating.

Gov. Tim Walz, Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith and St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter were among the mourners. But dominating the crowd were families comprising Annunciation’s tight-knit community.

Many wore school shirts printed with “A Future Filled with Hope” — the theme of a school year that was tragically interrupted when a shooter fired a spray of bullets into the church, killing two children and wounding 21 others.

The shock of the violence was palpable at the Sunday service. But speakers choked back tears to instead celebrate with smiles and laughs Fletcher’s brief, but vibrant life.

He was boundlessly energetic, his aunt Erin Shermak recalled in a speech that another aunt, Laura Kaliebe, wrote. Fletcher dove into new hobbies like rock climbing and running. He taught his youngest cousin to play catch and exuded generosity, handing out flowers and trading cards as gifts — just because.

“His gift to us was the chance to know him and love him,” Shermak said.

And then there was his love for fishing, something he often did with his dad, Jesse. Fletcher reeled in huge fish, taught his grandmother how to look for worms and cheekily asked family if they wanted to kiss his catches.

Family, too, held him close. His parents, Jesse and Mollie, and three siblings made a tight-knit bunch. But he also bonded with cousins, aunts and uncles who trick-or-treated together and traveled for family vacations.

“It was such a privilege to watch Fletcher and our kids grow,” Shermak said.

David Lose, the senior pastor at Mount Olivet Lutheran Church, said Fletcher had “a remarkably kind heart and a deep sense of fairness.” He invited all his classmates to his birthday party and stood up for the underdog.

Lose acknowledged the tragedy that occasioned the somber gathering. Just in front of the pews stood Fletcher’s wooden casket, topped with a bouquet of brightly colored flowers.

“Jesus ... has equipped us to do better, to work harder for a safer world and future in which our children are free to learn and laugh and dream and grow and pray without fear.”

After the service, people filed out of the church, wiping away tears and lingering to talk. Many wore bright colors — a request from the Merkel family — as they passed displays of blue-and-green ribbons.

The decorations, a show of support for the school, have cropped up across Minneapolis in the days since the shooting, which also killed 10-year-old Harper Moyski. A celebration of life for Harper will be held Sept. 14 at noon at the Lake Harriet Band Shell in Minneapolis.

A day after the shooting, Fletcher’s father, Jesse Merkel, said in a tearful appearance outside the church that the family hopes to heal, though “the hole in our hearts and lives will never be filled.”

“We will never be allowed to hold him, talk to him, play with him and watch him grow into the wonderful young man he was on the path to becoming,” Jesse Merkel said.

Just weeks before the shooting, Fletcher’s personality reached thousands of Twin Cities residents during a brief on-air moment on KDWB radio. His mother, Mollie, called into the station so Fletcher and other kids could give their best impression of fireworks for a contest.

On Sunday, those moved by the 8-year-old’s life and death clutched funeral programs featuring a portrait of Fletcher above a powerful phrase: “Forever loved, child of God.”