Father of boy killed in Minneapolis church shooting: Remember his love, not the violence

1 / 5

Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved

The flags circling the Washington Monument fly at half-staff in Washington, Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025, following the shooting at a Catholic church in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

MINNEAPOLIS – As the families of the two Catholic school students fatally shot while celebrating Mass at a Minneapolis church continue to wrestle with their grief, the father of the 8-year-old boy killed tearfully urged the community to remember his son for his love of family, fishing and cooking.

“Please remember Fletcher for the person he was and not the act that ended his life,” Jesse Merkel said Thursday.

Fletcher Merkel and 10-year-old Harper Moyski were killed and more than a dozen of their schoolmates were wounded Wednesda