BURSTA 10-year-old boy described how his friend saved him amid a Wednesday morning shooting at a church in Minneapolis, where two children and 17 others were killed.
“The first one, I was like, what is that? I thought it was just something, then I heard it again. I just ran under the pew, and then I covered my head. My friend Victor, like saved me, though, because he lay on top of me, but he got hit,” Weston Halsne told reporters on Wednesday.
The shooter opened fire through a window as the children were praying at Annunciation Church. The shooter then entered the church and fired three firearms, according to Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara.
Two kids, ages 8 and 10, were killed in the shooting, while 17 other people were injured, including 14 children.
FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed that the suspected shooter was identified as Robin Westman, whom he said identified as transgender. Patel added that the bureau is probing the shooting as an act of domestic terrorism and a hate crime targeting Catholics.
The suspected shooter wrote incendiary messages on gun magazines, including one that said “Kill Donald Trump.”
Halsne said he and his classmates practice school shooter drills “every month.”
“We've never practiced it in the church, though, only in school. So it was way different,” he said on Wednesday.
Halsne said he felt “relieved” after hugging his mother, adding, “I was very happy.”
Halsne recounted hearing the first shot three minutes into the mass. He said the police “were really good, because they showed up really quick.”
When asked about his message to his friend who protected him, Halsne said he is “really brave, and I hope he's good in the hospital.”