One day after the Minneapolis shooting that killed two children and injured 17 people at a Catholic church and school, Minnesota healthcare officials revealed nine patients remain in medical care.
The Hennepin County Healthcare Clinic said of the nine patients, six were in satisfactory condition, two in serious condition, and one in critical condition. One child received a “shotgun blast to his back” while protecting another student, EMS Chief Martin Scheerer said at Thursday’s press conference.
“Teachers were amazing,” he added. “The teachers were getting shot at. They were protecting the kids.”
First responders quickly arrived at Annunciation Church within minutes of the shooting, according to healthcare officials.
“We started transporting right away,” Scheerer said. “I think we transferred the first patient within less than 10 minutes of the time the call came in, and then I think we were done transporting people after 25 minutes from the time the call came.”
He noted Hennepin County’s healthcare workers feel particularly affected by the shooting, considering some of them have children who attend Annunciation Catholic School.
As of Thursday morning, three patients remain in the care of the Children’s Minnesota Hospital in Minneapolis. Four patients were discharged from the pediatric hospital on Wednesday.
Dr. John Gayken, a trauma surgeon at the Hennepin County Medical Center, said there were “a lot of gunshot wounds in places that were meant to kill people” and that there “could have been a lot of fatalities” if the gunman continued firing.
WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE MINNEAPOLIS ANNUNCIATION CATHOLIC CHURCH SHOOTING
The transgender shooter, identified as 23-year-old Robin Westman, who was born Robert, opened fire through the stained glass windows of Annunciation Church while students gathered for morning Mass during their first week back at school. Westman died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound behind the church.
Assisting the Minneapolis Police Department in the investigation, the FBI is investigating the shooting as an act of domestic terrorism and hate crime targeting Catholics. The incident happened one day after Minneapolis saw a separate shooting outside a Jesuit high school, in which one person was killed and at least six more were injured.