This is a piece that I don’t want to write but I feel like it is something I have a duty to do. I am the Co-Sports Editor for the Advance-Titan. I love to write about sports, especially UW Oshkosh sports, but a very terrible event happened back in my home state of Minnesota a couple of weeks ago and I feel that this is my opportunity to share my view on what happened.
On the morning of Aug. 27, I woke up to the news that there was an active shooter situation at Annunciation Catholic School and Church in Minneapolis. First, I read that the shooter was contained and I thought that it was a relief and a disaster averted. But then I later read and realized that before the shooter was “contained,” they shot what is now confirmed to be 23 people including 18 kids, killing two of the children.
I remember when the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting happened, and when the Uvalde school shooting happened in 2022. It seemed unfathomable that a shooting at an elementary school would happen not once but twice. But for the third time, especially at a school in your state, that feels awful. Especially when your state is trying to fix a bad name from the outside media due to the George Floyd riots.
Being from Minnesota, it had a different feel. One that feels like your entire security of your state was shattered. I have gone through school shooting scares throughout my childhood, especially a couple of times when my high school had to deal with a potential threat. But I never would have imagined something would happen like what occurred at Annunciation School and Church.
While I do not personally know the victims, a family friend I know teaches at a neighboring school, and his kids had to go on lockdown. I’m very thankful for him and his kids and families that nothing more happened to the surrounding area.
The Twin Cities community has been decimated emotionally with this shooting. A podcast I listen to called the “Skor North Minnesota Twins Show” had to cancel a live show they had scheduled that day at the Minnesota State Fair because one of the hosts, Declan Goff, has a couple of nephews who go to the school, and were at the church when it happened. When the podcast eventually went live the next day, it was very hard to listen to because Goff, who I feel like is very laid back, was on the verge of tears while describing what the experience was like for his family. Thankfully for him too, his nephews survived, but as he described, it sounded like an awful experience.
No one should ever go through an incident like that, but especially not kids. My older brother currently goes to UW-River Falls for a teaching degree. He also works at the River Falls School District. Unfortunately, in this modern-day world, I have to pray that I will never hear him telling a tale of him and his kids going through a situation like what happened at Annunciation School, or an outcome even worse.
Annunciation School is now one of the thousands of sites of a mass shooting in America. I really don’t understand how you can be a lawmaker and see something like the events of what happened at Annunciation, and not do a single thing to help prevent more incidents like that. I understand giving people the right of self-defense, and unfortunately, there will always be people out there who are carrying weapons that want to cause trouble, but I am under the belief that there is no reason why a regular citizen should ever have access to any sort of assault rifle. The only purpose an assault rifle has is to kill. Thoughts and prayers to those affected by mass shootings can only go so far. It’s well past the time for our government to put an end to this madness, and to make a change to this senseless amount of gun violence.
On a larger scale, I think we all need to come together and not only stop gun violence, but also stop unnecessary political hate. I am a 21-year-old who is on the autism spectrum, and I am far from perfect. I am saying this because I’m tired of people acting like they’re perfect over each other based on how they vote, what they identify as or what they look like. We are all humans and we all have choices. What happened at Annunciation School is an example of what hate and not love can do. We all have a choice and an opportunity to change. My wish is not just for there to be thoughts and prayers for those affected by this mass shooting, but I also want all of us to treat each other for what we are, as humans.
