Minnesota students stage walkout to call for gun control after Annunciation shooting

Students across Minnesota are staging a school walkout on Friday. The demonstration is part of an effort to rally support for gun control measures after the deadly Annunciation shooting, according to Students Demand Action, which works to prevent gun violence.

A gunman opened fire at Annunciation School and Church in south Minneapolis during a back-to-school Mass. Two children were killed and 21 other people were injured.

Follow live updates below:

2:35 p.m. - A Capitol event that started as a news conference held by a few dozen advocates and clergy turned into a rally of at least a few hundred students demanding state legislators pass gun control measures.

One of the people who address the crowd was Fernanda Honebrink, a nurse midwife at HCMC who was working the day of the shooting at Annunciation.

“All of us health care providers were crying,” she said, flanked by her 13-year-old son John.

“I wanted to go and get my kid,” she continued. “I wanted to get him out of the school and take him to church, and I couldn’t even take him to church. Kids were killed in church.

— Nathaniel Minor

2:25 p.m. - Wren Jagdfeld, an eighth-grader at Justice Page Middle School in Minneapolis, left class Friday with a green ribbon supporting Annunciation Catholic Church and School. Marching with more than 100 students toward Lynnhurst Park, Jagdfeld said that kids should be safe while learning. “It’s important to show people that it’s not just adults. Kids feel this, too,” she said. “Right after it happened we started school again. And going back to school, knowing that that just happened, it was terrifying. We didn’t know if we’d be safe either.”

— Kyeland Jackson

2:15 p.m. - Pete Mazalewski, 47, monitored Friday’s protest at Justice Page Middle School in Minneapolis while his daughter participated. As they marched, he called for gun reform. “It’s a beautiful thing, man. The kids are the ones moving the needle out here for this stuff,” Mazalewski said. “When you see all the big protests and all the real action, it always happens with the kids first.”

— Kyeland Jackson

“We give you a unique power and demand that you act,” said Doug Pagitt, pastor and executive director of Vote Common Good.

More than 50 students from nearby schools walked into the news conference shortly after it started, holding signs with messages like, “My grades don’t matter if I die before graduation” and “Homework due tomorrow if I survive today.” Within another 20 minutes, the number of students had swelled into the hundreds.

The Rev. Ashley Harness of the First Universalist Church of Minneapolis led the group in a version of the Beatitudes, from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s gospel, modified to praise first responders, parents and students, and condemning those who block legislative action and place blame on transgender people.

“I have prayed; I have done my job,” she said to cheers. “Now, elected officials, please go and do yours and ban assault weapons.”

— Nathaniel Minor

“But the door’s been opened a little bit. There’s some rays of hope shining through,” he said.

Galicich said Sophia was shot in the head, where a bullet is still lodged. An important blood vessel was damaged, causing swelling and pressure in her brain.

He said there is no benefit from removing the bullet, and emphasized he does not know what the likely outcome is for Sophia. But he called it a “miracle” she is alive after 10 days and that the pressure has been managed well. For those reasons, he said, there is optimism she will survive.

“It’s day by day. I can’t tell you how it’s going to end,” Galicich said. “We’re trending in the right direction at this point.”

Sophia’s father, Tom Forchas, described his daughter as “kind, she is brilliant, she is full of life. She is an innocent child who was attacked while in prayer.”

— Elliot Hughes

1:35 p.m. - Nicole Kohler, a freshman from Chanhassen, was among a very small contingent to walk out at the University of Minnesota Duluth. She planned to stick around the full two hours outside the Solon Campus Center with her small cardboard sign that said “ban guns not books.”

Kohler said the threat of a mass shooting makes her anxious in large crowds — or in class.

“It’s scary,” she said. “I might not go home, I might not see my parents. … I’m always thinking, ‘Where would I go? How would I protect people?’”

Kohler tried to organize a larger event, but as a new student she doesn’t yet have many connections, she said. At noon, there were about three students at the walkout.

First-year UMD student Lainie Curlew, who’s from Cokato, also walked out. “I think people have the wrong priorities right now,” she said, referring to the banning of books but not guns.

— Christa Lawler

1:15 p.m. - Hundreds of students from St. John’s Preparatory School solemnly walked to the steps of the Abbey Church on St. John’s University campus in Collegeville.

Many carried signs with messages such as “No more violence” or “Students demand action.”

“While our government has too often failed to take meaningful action, we cannot allow that failure to silence us or convince us that we are powerless,” said Grace Hofer, a junior from South Dakota who lives on campus. “We are not powerless.”

— Jenny Berg

1:10 p.m. - Minnesota House Republicans are proposing a slate of school safety policies after the mass shooting at a Minneapolis Catholic church last week.

The proposals include extending state school safety funding to non-public schools, new school security grants, an increase in school resource officers, more funding for mental health treatment beds and mandatory minimum prison sentences for repeat gun offenders.

“Minnesotans deserve real solutions that will meaningfully protect students and actually reduce gun violence,” House Speaker Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, said in a statement.

The Republican proposal does not contain any provisions that would limit access to firearms. That’s in contrast to legislative Democrats and DFL Gov. Tim Walz, who is planning to call a special session later this month in which they hope to pass new gun regulations.

1:05 p.m. - Students protest near Washburn High School in Minneapolis.

— Leila Navidi

1 p.m. - Nate Gibbs is in his first year as principal at Parkview Center School in Roseville after serving for two years as principal at Eden Prairie High School. He accompanied more than 40 students as they made their way with signs to the fenced corner at Dale Street and County Road B.

“This is the first time I’ve seen students of this age with this level of civic engagement,” Gibbs said.

— Anthony Lonetree

“We could’ve been next,” student Asher Kudis said. “It’s important to me that my friends are safe.”

— Zoe Jackson

12:40 p.m. - More than 50 students participated in the Justice Page Middle School walkout. Students chanted as they marched together. Drivers and passersby honked and waved in support of the students.

— Kyeland Jackson

12:34 p.m. - At Parkview Center, a K-8 school in Roseville, Harlin Laurent was among more than 40 seventh- and eighth-graders who walked to a busy intersection to hold up anti-gun signs. His read: “Bulletproof backpacks are not the answer.” Among the others: “Arms are for hugging,” “Books not bullets” and “Safety is a right not a request.” Passersby honked as the kids cheered.

12:28 p.m. - Students at Edina High School walked out at noon to protest gun violence. Asher Kudis, 15, heard about the nationwide movement from a friend and said it was important for their school to participate because the Annunciation shooting was so close to home.

Kudis hopes that lawmakers see the walkouts around the country and are moved to act.

— Zoe Jackson

12:21 p.m. - Dozens of students filed out of Justice Page Middle School on Friday and walked toward Lynnhurst Park to protest school shootings. Students shouted “murder is illegal” and “ban guns” while waving signs in support of Annunciation.

— Kyeland Jackson

St. Thomas More and St. Albert the Great in Minneapolis now keep only a few doors open during services, while St. Olaf in downtown Minneapolis and the Cathedral of St. Paul keep doors unlocked but rely on cameras and security staff to monitor entrances.

— Emmy Martin

11:45 a.m. - The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis issued safety recommendations to parishes and schools following the shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church, urging stronger security, clear visitor protocols and coordination with law enforcement, said Paul Iovino, director of ministerial standards and safe environment.

He noted that the archdiocese created the Security Managers Information Group in January 2024 to share safety concerns across more than 185 parishes, from suspicious activity to property damage or people in crisis. The archdiocese also offers operational plans and training through the FBI, Homeland Security and the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, Iovino said.

— Emmy Martin

— David Taintor