A young student at Annunciation Catholic School gave a firsthand account of the heroic actions his friend took after a gunman rained gunfire down on children and adults who were attending mass on Wednesday morning.
Speaking to the press, the fifth grader at the Minneapolis school recounted how his friend used his own body to shield him from the bullets in the mass shooting inside the church on campus, which left two children dead and injured 17 other people, 14 of those being children.
READ MORE: President Trump Takes Immediate Steps to Honor Victims of Minnesota Mass Shooting
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Gut-wrenching firsthand account from a 5th grader at Annunciation Catholic School.
“We had just got into Mass, maybe three minutes after, it was very scary.”
“My friend, he was laying on top of me, making sure I was safe and he got hit.” pic.twitter.com/Z8yISMdhjw
— Thomas Hern (@ThomasMHern) August 27, 2025
“We had just gotten into Mass, there were like three minutes after, it was very scary,” the young student explained.
“My friend got shot in the back,” he added. “He’s in the hospital right now. It was super scary because we’ve never practiced it in the church. We’ve only practiced it in the main school. So, we really didn’t know what to do.”
“We just got in the pews and he shot through the stained glass windows,” the young boy continued, as he explained how his friend got shot. “My friend was lying on top of me, making sure I was safe, and he got hit. So, that was really brave of him.”
Wow. So much courage in such a little guy. As the fifth grader explained, his best friend got shot and was taken to the hospital, and his other pal was the one who tried to protect him from the bullets. That’s a lot to take in right now. But so proud of these boys for being so strong in a time when some adults would probably not have been able to do the same.
SEE: Eyewitness Recounts Harrowing Moments After Trans Gunman Shot Catholic School Kids—It Was ‘Horrific’
Townhall.com’s Guy Benson has since shed a bit of light in all this darkness, revealing injured children and one adult taken to the hospital are expected to live.
Thank God. A bright spot in this darkness. https://t.co/R9erspn4Oe
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) August 27, 2025
“Minneapolis Police chief says in press conference that all of the injured students are expected to survive. All are currently with their parents,” the post shared by Benson from Fox News analyst, Josh Kraushaar.
As my RedState colleague Sister Toldjah reported, early Wednesday morning, local Minneapolis outlets reported there was a mass shooting incident at the Catholic school, with nearly two dozen victims and the suspect reportedly dead.
A short time later, RedState’s Teri Christoph provided an update that read:
As RedState reported earlier Wednesday, the perpetrator of the mass shooting has been identified as 23-year-old Robert Westman, who legally changed his name to the more feminine “Robin” at the request of his mother when he was still a minor. Westman appears to have left a treasure trove of incriminating evidence, including a long video posted to his YouTube page in which he thumbs through his “manifesto” and shows the camera his cache of weapons, many marked with far-left slogans.
This is a developing story. Please stay tuned to RedState for updates, and keep the victims and their families in your prayers.
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