Outside the Annunciation Catholic Church on Thursday, the mood was one of healing. People hugged and wiped away tears. Children carried teddy bears and ate pizza. There was a therapy dog, a golden retriever named Rosie, whom people could pet. A local Trader Joe’s worker dropped off buckets of flowers.
Families and neighbors had gathered outside the church in Minneapolis, where a shooter killed two children and injured 18 others the day before, to hear remarks from Jesse Merkel, who lost his son Fletcher in the shooting. Seeming to hold back tears, he asked for “not your sympathy, but your empathy, as our families grieve and try to make sense of a senseless act of violence.”
“Please remember Fletcher for the person he was and not the act that ended his life,” Mr. Merkel said. “Give your kids an extra hug and kiss today. We love you, Fletcher, you’ll always be with us.”
Signs of grieving, support and remembrance appeared to be everywhere: on posters, in chalk, on plywood.
Seng Yang, a neighborhood nanny who said she has previously cared for some of the Annunciation children who were affected by the shooting, paused before writing a note of condolences at a sign set up with colorful markers. She wrote simply, “You are loved. Seng.”
Wiping away tears, she struggled to describe her feelings, her lips trembling with emotion as she spoke. “I don’t care what you have gone through. But to hurt innocent children,” she said, trailing off.
In what appeared to be part of the healing process, some parents allowed their children to explore the church’s grounds — to get in the bushes and look through the windows and peer in through the doors into the sanctuary where the attack took place.
In front of the church’s front door, a memorial was set up for Fletcher with letters, drawings, teddy bears, balloons and flowers. In the center was a sign with Fletcher’s name, with the words: “I love you always and forever. Mom.”
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