RICHFIELD, Minn. — Tears dripped down Rosemary Andrade’s cheeks as she picked up a marker and wrote a message on a cross.
The cross is a memorial for an 8-year-old child who died in a mass shooting at Annunciation Church in Minneapolis Wednesday morning, Aug. 27. Another cross for a 10-year-old child who also died was to the side of the first cross.
Vigil attendees wrote messages on crosses for the two children who died in the Aug. 27 Annunciation Church shooting in Minneapolis.
Andrade, 17, remembers sitting in the pews of Annunciation Church herself. She told the USA TODAY Network she was a student there for nine years. She said the shooting hit home.
“Knowing I could have been in those benches, that I was (once) in those benches at that church, praying to God,” she said. “Knowing what happened to those kids, (who) didn’t deserve that, absolutely breaks my heart.”
Andrade was one of the Minnesotans who attended a prayer vigil for the two children who died at the mass shooting. Attendees sat in folding plastic chairs, bleachers and stood along the sides to hear Archbishop Bernard Hebda speak in the Academy of Holy Angels High School gymnasium on Wednesday night.
Vigil attendee Elaina Polding, 17, writing on a memorial cross for an eight-year-old child who died Aug. 27 during the Annunciation Church shooting in Minneapolis.
“I’m not usually that emotional, but I was genuinely shaking,” said Elaina Polding, who goes to youth group at Annunciation Church.
Hebda spoke with the USA TODAY Network after the vigil. As the FBI investigates the attack as “an act of domestic terrorism and a hate crime targeting Catholics,” he stressed the importance of holding onto faith.
“We really have no other choice than to stick to our faith,” he said. “That’s who we are, and we hope that we’re always going to be a community of love that welcomes, but we have to be faithful to who we are.”
More: Minneapolis shooter fired into church pews, killing 2 children: Live updates
The shooting took place on Wednesday morning, while the school children were attending mass at Annunciation Church, which also houses a school. The shooter approached the outside of the church building and fired inside toward the children sitting in pews, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said.
Fourteen of the 17 injured were children, of which two were in critical condition as of Wednesday afternoon, the police chief said. The alleged assailant died at the rear of the church from a self-inflicted wound, according to O’Hara.
A line waiting to enter a prayer vigil for Annunciation Church shooting victims shortly before 7 p.m. on Aug. 27 at Academy of Holy Angels High School in Richfield, Minnesota.
Ways to support the Annunciation Church community
The Rev. Dennis Zehren and school principal Matthew DeBoer wrote a letter to the community on the school’s website, asking for prayer.
“Please lift up these families and these children in prayer and surround them and each other with your love during this difficult time,” they wrote. “In this time of darkness, let us commit to being the Light to our children, each other and our community. We will rebuild our future filled with hope – together.”
More: Catholics grieve in wake of deadly attack during Mass in Minneapolis. ‘We feel the pain’
While some children have been released, others remain in the hospital. All the staff, they say, are “physically safe” and accounted for.
The school is also looking into getting professional support services for the church community. If you are in need of immediate emotional support, dial or text 988, the Minnesota Lifeline.
In addition, The Uvalde Foundation for Kids’ has set up a fundraiser to help give financial support to the families of the two children who died in the shooting. The organization said the funds raised will help with the burial and memorial for these children.
Donations to support the families can be made directly through the Uvalde Foundation For Kids’ official PayPal site.
This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: Vigil to Annunciation Church victims in Minneapolis shooting
