Mother of girl wounded in Annunciation shooting: ‘We are not OK’

The mother of a 9-year-old girl who was injured last week in the Annunciation Church shooting made her first public statement Thursday, pressing legislators to act and saying that her daughter could be scarred for life.

Malia Kimbrell, a nurse and clinical care supervisor at HCMC, said her daughter, Vivian St. Clair, was struck by bullets twice in her back and once in the arm as she hid. She then rushed to the school gym, where friends asked her: “Vivi, are you OK? You have a hole in your back.”

Vivian was brought to the hospital and has been discharged. But Kimbrell said bullet fragments that the doctors could not remove may stay inside her for life.

“The trauma is palpable and we are not OK ... those bullets firing through the stained glass windows didn’t care whose parents were Democrats or Republicans, if they made 50 grand a year or 500 grand,” Kimbrell said.

“To our lawmakers and people in power: Who the hell is going to do something? Who’s going to make meaningful change and take tangible steps to break the cycle?”

Despite Vivian’s wounds, her treatment and the chance that fragments will remain with her, Kimbrell said her daughter continues to smile and “radiate sweetness.”

Public outcry against the shooting at the south Minneapolis church, which killed two children and injured 21 other people, has led to a push for an assault weapons ban. Several protesters shouted “Protect our kids!” as Vice President J.D. Vance and his wife, Usha Vance, visited Annunciation and victims of the shooting on Wednesday.

Vance told reporters that he “never had a day that will stay with me like this day did,” but stopped short of promising federal law changes.

“I think all of us, Democrat, Republican and independent, want these school shootings to happen less frequently,” Vance said. “Hopefully there’s some steps that we can take to make that happen.”

Many wonder what will happen when support wanes for such steps.

“Right now there’s an outpouring of support for everybody, and I worry what it’s going to look like when things get quiet,” Samantha Low, manager for Hennepin Healthcare’s Newborn Intensive Care Unit said. “But everyone is supporting each other right now the best way that we can.”

Rachel Dunnette, Hennepin Healthcare’s interim chief nursing officer, said that it had been “heartbreaking” to visit with family members of those who were shot. Every single victim has “gone through a lot,” she said.