Lydia Kaiser, an eighth grader at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis who was wounded during a mass shooting during school Mass last August, spoke out Tuesday at the Minnesota Capitol for the first time since the attack and pushed lawmakers to act on gun violence prevention.
“Two students were shot and killed. Two students survived gunshot injuries to the head. I’m one of them,” Kaiser said of the Aug. 27 shooting. “Many more students were injured by bullets and flying glass. We all hid under the pews.”
Kaiser shared the extent of her injuries — that doctors had to remove half of her skull to remove bullet fragments from her brain over multiple surgeries.
“All children have the right to live free from gun violence in schools, churches and in our communities. Elected officials have a duty to protect us from guns. No one should have to go through what we went through at Annunciation,” she said.
Her comments came at a Tuesday morning news conference alongside Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who announced his gun violence prevention package that includes an assault weapons ban, school safety grants, restricting untraceable “ghost guns” and much more.
Lydia Kaiser speaks at a news conference alongside Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who unveiled his plans for new gun restrictions in the state on Feb. 24, 2026.
WCCO
“We owe it to the Annunciation families not to have that just be another statistic in the book,” Walz said. “In Minnesota, that was the final straw.”
Walz vowed to push for legislation on guns despite the uphill battle in the divided Minnesota Legislature where Republicans and Democrats share power in a tied House. The future of such bills is also uncertain in the Senate with a one-seat DFL majority; a few Democrats, in addition to Republicans, have in the past expressed concern about some of the measures and their impact on law-abiding gun owners.
On Tuesday afternoon, House Democrats will introduce some of their bills to the judiciary committee, including the assault weapons ban and restrictions on high-capacity magazines. Moyski’s parents are expected to testify.
“What we’re talking about is are we going to be with the people, or are we going to be with the gun lobbyists and the gun industry? And I think we here know who we’re with, and Minnesotans know who they’re with, and I certainly hope my colleagues do, too,” said Rep. Emma Greenman, DFL-Minneapolis, who is authoring the semi-automatic, assault-style weapons ban.
Also in that Tuesday afternoon hearing, lawmakers will discuss strengthening penalties for individuals who impersonate a police officer, which is what authorities say accused assassin Vance Boelter did when he showed up at the Hortman and Hoffman homes in the middle of the night on June 14, 2025.
This story will be updated.
Lydia Kaiser’s full statement
My name is Lydia Kaiser. I’m in eighth grade at Annunciation Catholic School.
On Aug. 27, I was in church attending the first school mass of the year when a gunman fired 116 rounds of bullets through the stained glass windows.
Two students were shot and killed. Two students survived gunshot injuries to the head. I’m one of them.
Many more students were injured by bullets and flying glass. We all hid under the pews. The older students covered the younger students to protect them.
I was taken to the hospital and rushed into surgery. The doctor moved a large piece, almost half of my skull, to let my brain swell and to remove bone and bullet fragments from my head.
I had a second surgery three weeks later to put the piece of my skull back in my head.
All children have the right to live free from gun violence in schools, churches and in our communities.
Elected officials have a duty to protect us from guns.
No one should have to go through what we went through at Annunciation.
A 16-year-old boy is due in court Wednesday for a bond hearing after the Wootton High School shooting in Rockville, Maryland.
A Montgomery Police officer blocks the road as people wait outside Thomas S. Wootton High School for students in Rockville Md., Monday, Feb. 9, 2026, after a person was shot inside the school. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)(AP/Jose Luis Magana)
A Montgomery Police officer blocks the road as people wait outside Thomas S. Wootton High School for students in Rockville Md., Monday, Feb. 9, 2026, after a person was shot inside the school. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)(AP/Jose Luis Magana)
The 16-year-old boy accused of shooting a fellow student inside Rockville, Maryland’s Wootton High School on Monday texted a friend and asked him to bring a backpack to the school that prosecutors believe was carrying the gun, prosecutors said during a bond hearing Wednesday.
The 16-year-old is being charged as an adult with an additional two counts of first-degree assault, two counts of second-degree assault and possession of a dangerous weapon on school property.
At a Tuesday news conference, Rockville Police Chief Jason West said the teen pointed a gun at a 15-year-old girl earlier Monday before shooting a 16-year-old schoolmate. The teen charged in the shooting then left the school and hid the gun in his backyard, according to prosecutors.
West said the suspect and victim knew each other, but police are still investigating the motive behind the shooting.
West said the student who was shot is in stable condition.
“In this case, the second victim did not suffer injury,” West said. “However, through investigation, we learned that the suspect in the case pointed a firearm at that person earlier in the day, prior to this shooting occurring.”
Officers with the Montgomery County Police Department were dispatched to the high school around 2:15 p.m. Monday following a report of shots fired inside the school.
Police said officers recovered the weapon: a Polymer80 9 mm handgun, that they believe was used in the shooting. West said the weapon is commonly referred to as a “ghost gun,” and officers found it late Monday night, away from the school.
“We know that those types of firearms are very difficult to trace, if we can do that at all,” West said.
“Part of our investigation will include, ‘Where did that firearm come from? How did that student come into possession of that firearm, and how did it get into the school?’”
WTOP’s Luke Lukert and José Umaña contributed to this report.
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Emotional testimony from teacher about Uvalde shooting in trial of former cop – CBS News
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Tuesday marked Day 5 in the trial of former Uvalde CISD police officer Adrian Gonzales over his response to the 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary. CBS News reporter Karen Hua has the latest.
Raleigh native Stacey Wang kept her active shooter knowledge
from Leesville Road High School in Raleigh.
Wang, who is in her first semester at Brown University, had
to use the training during Saturday’s shooting at the school.
“Me and my roommate stayed there for, honestly, hours,
crouching underneath our desk trying to find blind spot that, like, even if
someone comes in, they wouldn’t be able to find us,” Wang said.
Wang added that the training, “really helps.”
Wang said she’s changing her flights to come home as soon as
possible this holiday, and she’s thinking of those who won’t be home this year.
“I just can’t imagine what it is [like] for their family
members when they’re expecting, like, a nice reunion, and they just … don’t get
to anymore,” Wang said.
All classes and exams are canceled for the rest of the semester
at Brown University.
Search ongoing for Brown University shooter
Saturday’s shooting left two people dead and injured nine
others.
The FBI is offering a $50,000 reward for information leading
to the suspect’s arrest. Authorities did not find a weapon on campus.
“Kendall’s parents, Kara and Kenny, arrived in Providence [Sunday]
night,” wrote Michael Ulku-Steiner, the head of Durham Academy, in a letter to families. “She underwent surgery
and is now resting, in critical but stable condition.”
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLS) — A massive manhunt is underway after a shooting left two people dead and eight others injured at a Brown University building on Saturday afternoon, officials in Rhode Island said.
Providence Mayor Brett P. Smiley said the shooting, which happened at the school’s Barus & Holley building, was first reported at 4:05 p.m. local time.
An official briefed on the investigation told ABC News that preliminary information indicates that the shooting occurred in a engineering and physics building classroom, where a study group was taking place.
Six of the eight people injured are in critical but stable condition. One person is in stable condition while the eighth is in critical condition.
Rhode Island Hospital is on lockdown but is still accepting emergency department patients.
Smiley said no one is in custody, and a shelter-in-place order is in effect for the greater Brown University area.
Providence Police Department Deputy Chief Timothy O’Hara described the suspect as a male who was dressed in black.
Officials say it is unclear how he entered the building, but he exited it on the Hope Street side of the complex.
The university said they are working to determine who was in the building when the gunfire broke out.
Police are working with the FBI to track video from the area to try to find the suspect. Officials are also interviewing witnesses.
The school sent a message about the active shooter situation to its community through the BrownUAlert system around 4:20 p.m., telling students to shelter in place or avoid the area.
The alert directed students to “Lock doors, silence phones and stay stay hidden until further notice. Remember: RUN, if you are in the affected location, evacuate safely if you can; HIDE, if evacuation is not possible, take cover; FIGHT, as a last resort, take action to protect yourself. Stay tuned for further safety information.”
School officials, in another alert, and President Donald Trump, in a social media post, initially said a suspect was in custody, but later clarified that no one is in custody.
During a Saturday evening press conference, officials said there was an individual who was preliminarily thought to have been involved in the incident, but that person was later determined not to be involved.
A statement from the university also clarified that a report of another shooting near Governor Street was unfounded.
The gunshot victims’ identities were not immediately known. Officials did not immediately say whether they are students at the school.
Smiley added that the number of victims may change as officials gather more information. One official said first responders are still searching the any for possible additional victims.
No weapons have been recovered, and officials do not yet know what kind of firearm the suspect used.
Brown University police said there was no threat before the attack.
A family reunification center will be set up for 7 p.m., Smiley said.
The university’s president, Christina H. Paxson, sent a message to all students and faculty informing them about the details of the shooting and offering support.
“We know our community wants answers, and we will provide them as soon as we can. For now, please know we are doing all we can to keep our community safe and have mobilized support for the students and their families,” she wrote.
Speaking to reporters at the White House after the Army-Navy game, Trump said he has been “fully briefed” on the Brown University shooting, calling it a “terrible thing” and emphasizing the need to “pray for the victims,” whom he says “were very badly hurt, it looks like.”
“I’ve been fully briefed on the Brown University situation. What a terrible thing it is, and all we can do right now is pray for the victims and for those that were very badly hurt, it looks like,” Trump told reporters after de-boarding Marine One. “And we’ll inform you later as to what’s happening, but it’s a shame. Just pray. Thank you.”
The president did not have any further remarks and did not take questions before entering the White House.
Vice President JD Vance issued a statement to X, saying, “Terrible news out of Rhode Island this evening. We’re all monitoring the situation and the FBI stands ready to do anything to help. We’re all thinking of and praying for the victims tonight.”
ABC News contributed to this report.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
A shooting in the engineering building at Brown University left at least two people dead and eight critically injured Saturday, Providence’s mayor said, as authorities searched for a suspect.
Officers were hunting through buildings on the Ivy League campus more than two hours after the shooting erupted on the second day of final exams.
The suspect was a male who was dressed in black and last seen leaving the building, said Timothy O’Hara, Deputy Chief of Police.
Mayor Brett Smiley said a shelter-in-place was in effect for the area and encouraged people living near the campus to stay inside and not to return home until it is lifted.
“We have all available resources” to find the suspect, Smiley said.
University officials initially told students and staff that a suspect was in custody, before later saying that was not the case and that police were still searching for a suspect or suspects, according to alerts issued through Brown’s emergency notification system.
The mayor said a person preliminarily thought to be involved was detained but was later determined to have no involvement.
“We’re still getting information about what’s going on, but we’re just telling people to lock their doors and to stay vigilant,” said Providence Councilmember John Goncalves, whose ward includes the Brown campus. “As a Brown alum, someone who loves the Brown community and represents this area, I’m heartbroken. My heart goes out to all the family members and the folks who’ve been impacted.”
The shooting occurred near the Barus & Holley building, a seven-story complex that houses the university’s School of Engineering and physics department. According to the university’s website, the building includes more than 100 laboratories, dozens of classrooms and offices.
Engineering design exams were underway in the building when the shooting occurred.
Students in a nearby lab hid under desks and turned off the lights after receiving an alert about the shooting, said Chiangheng Chien, a doctoral student in engineering who was about a block away from the scene.
President Donald Trump said late in the afternoon that he has been briefed on the shooting.
“God bless the victims and the families of the victims!” he said on his social media site.
Students were urged to shelter in place as police responded to the scene, and people were told to avoid the area. A police officer warned media to take cover in vehicles because the area was still an active scene.
Officials cautioned that information remained preliminary as investigators worked to determine what had occurred.
Police were actively investigating and still gathering information from the scene, said Kristy DosReis, the chief public information officer for the city of Providence. The FBI said it was assisting in the response.
Brown is a private institution with roughly 7,300 undergraduate students and more than 3,000 graduate students.
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Kimberlee Kruesi, Alanna Durkin Richer, Jennifer McDermott, The Associated Press
First, Ukrainian survivors recount deadly bus attack. Then, Montana’s fight to block public land sales. And, a look at the rooms left behind after school shootings.
Hallie’s room remains as she left it that Monday morning. For her parents, Hallie’s bedroom is a devastating reminder of what was taken from them, and of who their daughter was. There are Legos, Tennessee football memorabilia, and the books Hallie read together with her mom at night.
“All these physical things are tangible ways of reminding me, like, she was real. She was here. She lived with us,” Scruggs said. “In some ways, this room kinda holds the space for her.”
Hallie’s bedroom is one of several documented by CBS News’ correspondent Steve Hartman and photographer Lou Bopp, who spent the last seven years asking parents whose children were killed in school shootings for permission to take pictures of all the empty rooms they’ve left behind.
“Empty Rooms”
Hallie was killed along with two classmates, Evelyn Dieckhaus and William Kinney, in a shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville on March 27, 2023. Hallie’s father, Chad Scruggs, was drawn to his daughter’s room the day she was killed.
“I went into her room to lay on her bed to smell. I knew that would go,” he said.
Jada Scruggs said she visits her daughter’s room less frequently now, but her feelings when she goes in haven’t changed. To Chag Scruggs, the room now feels like an “indication of absence.”
“It feels more like a relic now,” he said.
A photo of Hallie Scruggs
60 Minutes
Some 2,000 miles away, in Santa Clarita, California, Gracie Muehlberger’s bedroom serves as a reminder for her parents. The 15-year-old, killed six years ago in the Saugus High School shooting, adored her brothers and her Vans sneakers.
Parents Cindy and Bryan Muehlberger went to her room right after they got home from the hospital.
“That’s where I spent, like, the next week or two. I slept in her bed,” Cindy Muehlberger said.
Dominic Blackwell, a 14-year-old killed alongside Gracie, left behind a room filled with SpongeBob stuffed animals. A basket of his laundry still waits to be washed.
Why it was important to document the rooms left behind
The rooms are among eight that were photographed as part of the project created by Hartman, who began covering these tragedies for CBS News 28 years ago. He first covered a shooting at a high school in Pearl, Mississippi, two years before the massacre at Columbine High School.
At the time, the shooting was big news, with ongoing coverage. Hartman said that’s often not the case for school shootings today.
“It still gets coverage, but it’s usually a day or two. And people forget about them, I’d say, by the end of the week, many times,” Hartman said.
So seven years ago, he began writing letters to parents asking to photograph their murdered children’s rooms.
“I don’t think there’s really a better way to get to know a kid and to remember a life than to look around that room, to stand in that space,” he said.
“I wanted to shake people out of this numbness that I was feeling whenever there was a school shooting,” Hartman said. “I was moving on quickly. I was forgetting the names of the children who were lost. And I knew the country was doing the same.”
Eight families whose children were killed in five different schools agreed to let photographer Lou Bopp into their kids’ rooms. A recent exhibit in New York displayed some of the 10,000 photos he’s taken.
“I’m trying to take a picture of a child who’s not there,” Bopp said.
The photographs serve as a reminder that while the country moves on, the families left behind never do, Hartman said.
The project is now the subject of a documentary premiering on Netflix Dec. 1. It follows Hartman and Bopp as they travel across the country, visiting rooms.
What’s next for parents and the project
The Muehlbergers were considering moving when they got Hartman’s letter in 2024 but they didn’t know if they could leave Gracie’s room behind.
“It’s, like, do you take a lotta pictures of it and then try to recreate it somewhere else? We didn’t know what to do with it. And it really wasn’t until this opportunity to work with Steve on this film that we started feeling a peace about it,” Bryan Muehlberger said.
Earlier this year, the Muehlbergers sold their house and packed up Gracie’s room. They found mementos, artwork, and cards she had made that they hadn’t seen in years. For now, they’ve placed them in a storage unit, while they build a new life in Georgia.
They’ve designated an outdoor area on the plot of land where they’re building a new home as “Gracie’s Point.”
“So peaceful, which is what we were looking for,” Cindy Muehlberger said.
Anderson Cooper with the Muehlbergers at Gracie’s Point
60 Minutes
For Hartman, the project isn’t over.
“If parents want us to, we’ll continue to document the rooms, just so they have the pictures,” Hartman said. “I wish this project would end, but I don’t anticipate it will.”
More than 160 children have been killed in school shootings across the U.S. since the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Back in Nashville, the Scruggs have no plans to change Hallie’s room but they did send some of her drawings and journals to an artist, Brenda Bogart, who created a collage portrait of her.
“Everything on this canvas is something that was made by Hallie’s hand,” Jada Scruggs said. “Brenda went through and noticed a theme of, ‘I am happy. I am happy. I am happy.’”
Chad and Jada Scruggs hope the images of Hallie’s room will help people better understand the person she was. .
“This is not a generic person, you know? It’s someone that uniquely bore God’s image in the world and [was] irreplaceable,” Chad Scruggs said. “We just want you to know her, you know? She’s worth being known.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with the loss of a child, support networks are available.
Since the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, 13 years ago, more than 160 children have been killed in school shootings across the U.S. They’ve left behind devastated families, and friends, and empty bedrooms they once filled with life. For many parents, these rooms have become sanctuaries: a tangible link to a child they can still feel but no longer hold. Steve Hartman, a veteran CBS News correspondent, and Lou Bopp, a photographer, have spent the last seven years asking parents whose children have been killed for permission to take pictures of the empty rooms they’ve left behind. No easy task; they are, after all, portraits of a child who is no longer there.
Up a flight of stairs in their Nashville home, Chad and Jada Scruggs took us to see their daughter Hallie’s room. It remains as she left it one Monday morning two and a half years ago.
Chad Scruggs: I don’t think anything’s changed.
Hallie Scruggs loved Legos, Tennessee football, and hiding things in a toy safe from her three older brothers. The books she and her mom read together at night are still stacked by her bed. A school project, with important milestones in her life, a reminder Hallie was just 9 years old.
Chad Scruggs: First tooth, first soccer game, first Tennessee game.
Anderson Cooper: That was a– that was a– a milestone.
Jada and Chad Scruggs: Yeah.
Chad Scruggs: This is the first time they held her.
Jada Scruggs: I love that picture.
Chad and Jada Scruggs with Anderson Cooper in Hallie’s room
60 Minutes
Jada Scruggs: I do wonder, sometimes, like, what will we do with this room, eventually. All these physical things are tangible ways of reminding me, like, she was real. She was here. She lived with us. In some ways, this room kinda holds the space for her.
Anderson Cooper: What has grief been like, for you?
Chad Scruggs: It felt like everything collapsed, everything, internally, pain that– I mean, gosh. It’s just hard to endure. And then, you know, you have to relearn how to do everything, like how to eat, how to sleep. And you just have a– new relationship with pain, and sadness, and anger. There’s been joy, too, but– the– the sadness– was– has been– was just, I mean, overwhelming.
Chad is a pastor at the church that’s part of The Covenant School. He was drawn to Hallie’s room the day she was killed.
Chad Scruggs: I went into her room to lay on her bed to smell. I knew that would go. And I wanted, you know–
Anderson Cooper: You knew that– you knew the smell would dissipate?
Chad Scruggs: Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. And her blankie was there and everything was there.
Anderson Cooper: And you could smell her, that day?
Chad Scruggs: Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. That was true probably, for a week or two after. So you’re trying to get her back. And it’s not possible. But you don’t believe that. And so anything that– that draws that possibility closer, I wanted to be there for that, so– yeah. I went in, just laid on her bed, and cried by myself.
Chad and Jada Scruggs
60 Minutes
Anderson Cooper: Has your relationship to the room changed over time?
Jada Scruggs: Maybe, it’s not as frequent that I go up there, but the feelings haven’t changed, when I go in the room. You know, it kind of captures all the feelings of sadness and joy, just because it’s– it’s a capsule of time.
Chad Scruggs: I think initially, that room was for me, an indication of, like, presence. And now, it feels more of an indication of absence.
Jada Scruggs: Absence, yeah.
Chad Scruggs: You know. It feels more like a relic now.
Anderson Cooper: Like a relic?
Chad Scruggs: A relic.
Anderson Cooper: Yeah.
Some 2,000 miles away, in Santa Clarita, California, another room, another child killed.
This is Gracie Muehlberger. She was 15. She adored her brothers and her Vans sneakers. She was killed six years ago in the Saugus High School shooting. Cindy and Bryan Muehlberger are her parents.
Anderson Cooper: Do you remember the first time you went into Gracie’s room after–
Cindy Muehlberger: Right when we got home from the hospital.
Anderson Cooper: You went right to her room?
Cindy Muehlberger: Right to her room. And that’s where I spent, like, the next week or two. I slept in her bed. I just–it’s the closest I could feel to her, so.
Anderson Cooper: Did that feeling though of the room providing comfort, did that last for a long time?
Cindy Muehlberger: Yes.
Bryan Muehlberger: Oh yeah–
Cindy Muehlberger: Always. Yeah.
Bryan Muehlberger: Always.
Gracie Muehlberger and Hallie Scruggs’ rooms are two of eight that were photographed as part of the project begun by Steve Hartman, who began covering these tragedies for CBS News 28 years ago. This was his first, a shooting at a high school in Pearl, Mississippi, two years before the massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado.
Steve Hartman
60 Minutes
Steve Hartman: It was news, at the time. A school shooting was actually big news.
Anderson Cooper: As opposed to now?
Steve Hartman: As opposed to now. It still gets coverage, but it’s usually a day or two. And people forget about them, I’d say, by the end of the week, many times.
Anderson Cooper: Initially, in your mind, what was the idea?
Steve Hartman: I wanted to shake people out of this numbness that I’ve– that I was feeling whenever there was a school shooting. Now, I was moving on quickly. I was forgetting the names of the children who were lost. And I knew the country was doing the same.
So seven years ago, he began writing letters to parents asking to photograph their murdered children’s rooms.
Steve Hartman: Because when you go into a kid’s room, you go into my kid’s room, you see their whole history. You see every dream, every desire, everything they value. It’s all there on the walls and sitting on the shelves.
Anderson Cooper: Or scattered on the floor.
Steve Hartman: Or scattered on the floor, in some cases. It’s all there. And I don’t think there’s really a better way to get to know a kid and to remember a life than to look around that room, to stand in that space.
Eight families whose children were killed in five different schools agreed to let photographer Lou Bopp into their kids’ rooms. At a recent exhibit in New York, he showed us some of the 10,000 photos he’s taken.
Lou Bopp: You know I’m trying to take a picture of a– of a– of a child who’s not there.
Dominic Blackwell’s room is still filled with Spongebob. He was killed, along with Gracie Muehlberger, at Saugus High School. Dominic was 14. A basket of his laundry still waits to be washed. A toothpaste tube remains uncapped in the bathroom of 14-year-old Alyssa Alhadeff, killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
Charlotte Bacon loved pink. She was 6, killed at Sandy Hook. There’s a library book in her room that’s now 13 years overdue.
Lou Bopp: If that’s not a little girl’s room, I don’t know what is.
Lou Bopp: And even this. This to me, it’s so poignant, the way the head is tilted down.
Anderson Cooper: It’s such a reminder– that while everybody else moves on– from what is a story to them the– the families never move on.
Lou Bopp took thousands of photos for the project.
60 Minutes
Steve Hartman: That’s part of the reason the families did agree because it’s very frustrating for them when the country moves on. And they certainly haven’t moved on and will never move on.
Anderson Cooper: I think there’s such weight in– for these parents in being the holders of the memory, that they are the only ones who remember–excuse me–
Steve Hartman: It’s okay. What are you thinking about?
Anderson Cooper: Whew. I’ve been in a lot of these rooms, as well. And there’s such sadness in being the last ones left to remember everything about this child.
Steve Hartman: And that’s why they can’t surrender the rooms, because you surrender the rooms and that’s just another piece of their kid that’s gone.
Steve Hartman’s project is now the subject of an upcoming documentary on Netflix. It follows him and Lou Bopp as they travel across the country, visiting rooms, including Dominic Blackwell’s and Gracie Muehlberger’s.
When Bryan and Cindy Muehlberger received Steve’s letter in 2024, they were considering moving — but didn’t know how they could leave their daughter’s room behind.
Anderson Cooper: How much of the discussion was about, “What do we do with the room?”
Bryan Muehlberger: I would say that was the primary driver of– of us not moving sooner. I mean, after the– the shooting we– we wanted to get outta town.
Anderson Cooper: But you didn’t want to leave that room.
Cindy Muehlberger: Right–
Bryan Muehlberger: But we didn’t want to leave that room, yeah. You know, it’s, like, do you take a lotta pictures of it and then try to recreate it somewhere else? We didn’t know what to do with it. And it really wasn’t until this opportunity to work with Steve on this film that we started feeling a peace about it.
Earlier this year, the Muehlbergers felt ready. They sold their house and packed up Gracie’s room. They found mementos, artwork, and cards she made they hadn’t seen in years.
For now, they’ve placed them in a storage unit, while they build a new home, and a new life in Georgia.
Anderson Cooper: When you found this did you– did you know how you wanted to kind of incorporate Gracie?
Bryan Muehlberger: Not initially.
In September, they showed us the plot of land where they’ll live, and an area they are going to create called “Gracie’s Point.”
Anderson Cooper with the Muehlbergers at Gracie’s Point
60 Minutes
Anderson Cooper: So this is going to be Gracie’s Point?
Bryan Muehlberger: Yeah, this kinda area right here. Where when you’re out here you know all you’ve got is nature and the water.
Anderson Cooper: And a place for a fire pit, a place where people can come together?
Bryan Muehlberger: Yeah, come together. She loved doin’ s’mores and things like that.
Anderson Cooper: It could not be a more beautiful spot.
Cindy Muehlberger: So peaceful, which is what we were lookin’ for.
Anderson Cooper: Is this project over for you?
Steve Hartman: No. If parents want us to, we’ll continue to document the rooms, just so they have the pictures. I wish this project would end, but I don’t anticipate it will.
Back in Nashville, Chad and Jada Scruggs have no plans to change Hallie’s room but they did send some of her drawings and journals to an artist, Brenda Bogart, who created this collage portrait of her.
Jada Scruggs: Everything on this canvas is something that was made by Hallie’s hand. Brenda went through and noticed a theme of, “I am happy. I am happy. I am happy.”
Anderson Cooper: Wow.
Jada Scruggs: She pretty much ended every journal entry with, “I am happy.” She wanted to make sure that that got put on Hallie.
Anderson Cooper: When people see the photos, of Hallie’s room, what would you like them to take away?
Chad Scruggs: This is not a generic person, you know? It’s someone that uniquely bore God’s image in the world and–irreplaceable. And we just want you to know her, you know? She’s worth being known. We don’t have a lot of aspirations, beyond that. We want you to come step inside of our world for a moment, so.
Anderson Cooper: Step inside the sadness?
Chad Scruggs: Yeah.
Jada Scruggs: And feel it.
Chad Scruggs: People can talk about solutions. But until they feel the weight of the problem, I don’t know how to really talk about solutions.
If you or someone you know is struggling with the loss of a child, support networks are available.
Produced by Katie Brennan. Associate producer, Matthew Riley. Broadcast associate, Grace Conley. Edited by Matthew Lev.
In the aftermath of a summer of gun violence in Minnesota, the push to put limits on semi-automatic weapons here has stalled.
One group has not given up, and those are the survivors and loved ones of those directly affected by gun violence including one of the parents of a child injured in the deadly Annunciation Catholic Church mass shooting.
In the past six months, Minnesota has been the site of horrifying gun violence. In June, there were the execution-style murders of House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hostman and her husband Mark, and the attempted assassination of state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife Yvette.
Then in August came a mass shooting in Minneapolis that killed one and injured six. The very next day there was, the mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church and School in Minneapolis left students Harper Moyski and Fletcher Merkel dead and more than 20 wounded.
Democratic Gov. Tim Walz immediately called for a special session on guns, but repeated negotiations between the governor and legislative leaders have failed to come up with a compromise all parties could support.
There has also been a call for a constitutional amendment to limit semi-automatic weapons to be put on the ballot, but that too has seemed to sputter.
In September, some Annunciation parents went before a state legislative committee in a powerful, emotional plea for change. And at least one parent, Tess Rada, has become a crusader, joining Walz at town hall meetings around the state and talking to whoever will listen.
Rada’s third-grade daughter, Lila, survived the shooting and was physically uninjured. Rada was a guest on WCCO Sunday Morning.
“I don’t want any family to have to feel what I felt that day,” Rada said.
She said she will not stop pushing for change.
“It seems the best way to do that is taking assault weapons off the streets, because nobody should be able to fire 116 rounds in two minutes and cause that kind of destruction,” Rada said.
With the Legislature evenly divided, it’s unlikely further gun control laws will pass in the 2026 legislative session. Many Republicans and some Democrats think the Legislature went too far in 2023 when it passed a red flag law and tighter background checks.
Like many conservative Republicans, state Rep. Kristin Robbins, a candidate for governor, has opposed a constitutional amendment and any restrictions proposed by the legislature. She believes an assault weapons ban won’t work.
“The money would go like text book aides, so it can go to a school whether the child’s in public school, private school or charter school,” Robbins said.
While surveys show a constitutional amendment to ban assault weapons could have enough support to be approved by voters, the hurdle is getting it approved by the Minnesota Legislature to get on the ballot. With the divide in the Legislature, it seems unlikely.
Watch WCCO Sunday Morning with Esme Murphy and Adam Del Rosso every Sunday at 6 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.
For seven years, CBS News correspondent Steve Hartman and photographer Lou Bopp have documented the virtually untouched bedrooms of children killed in school shootings across the United States. These rooms have become memorials to young lives cut short. Anderson Cooper reports, Sunday.
A first grade Virginia teacher who was shot and seriously wounded by a 6-year-old student in 2023 has won a civil lawsuit that accused the school’s former assistant principal of ignoring multiple warnings the day of the shooting.
Abby Zwerner, 25, was shot in the hand and chest by a single bullet while at a reading table in her classroom at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia in January 2023. Zwerner spent nearly two weeks in the hospital and underwent six surgeries. The bullet to her chest narrowly missed her heart and remains lodged there. She no longer has full use of her left hand and has left teaching.
Zwerner’s lawsuit sought $40 million in compensatory damages. She was awarded $10 million.
Zwerner’s lawsuit accused former assistant principal Ebony Parker of gross negligence. In the lawsuit, Zwerner said she went to Parker’s office the morning of the shooting and said the boy “was in a violent mood” and had threatened to beat up another student. The lawsuit said Parker “had no response” to Zwerner’s concerns.
Abby Zwerner.
Zwerner family
Shortly after, two students told a reading specialist that the boy had a gun in his backpack, according to the lawsuit. Zwerner told the specialist she had seen the boy take something out of his bag and put it in his sweatshirt. The specialist then searched the boy’s backpack and did not find a weapon. The reading specialist told Parker about the incident, according to the lawsuit, and Parker responded that his “pockets were too small to hold a handgun” and “did nothing.”
Another student then told a teacher the boy had shown him a gun in his pocket during recess. When the incident was conveyed to Parker, she said the backpack had already been searched and “took no further action,” according to the lawsuit. When a guidance counselor asked Parker for permission to search the boy again, she allegedly forbade him from doing so, according to the lawsuit. Parker told the counselor the boy’s mother would pick him up shortly, the lawsuit claimed.
The shooting, which police described as “intentional,” occurred about an hour later. Zwerner was the only person injured, and managed to evacuate her classroom after she was shot. A school employee restrained the boy, who said he had “shot that b*** dead,” according to unsealed records. While testifying in court last week, Zwerner said she believed she “had died” after being struck by the bullet.
Zwerner’s lawsuit also alleged that Parker knew the boy “had a history of random violence” at home and school, citing an incident the year before where he “strangled and choked” his kindergarten teacher. Concerns about his behavior were “always dismissed,” the lawsuit claimed, and the boy’s parents did not agree to put him in special education classes with other students with behavioral issues.
Students and police gather outside of Richneck Elementary School after a shooting, Friday, Jan. 6, 2023 in Newport News, Va.
Billy Schuerman / AP
A judge previously dismissed the district’s former superintendent and the school principal as defendants in the lawsuit. The superintendent was fired by the school board after the shooting, while Parker resigned.
The boy was not criminally charged in the shooting. Newport News prosecutor Howard Gwynn said in March 2023 that the boy was too young to understand the legal system.
The boy’s mother, Deja Taylor, was sentenced to nearly four years in prison for felony child neglect and federal weapons charges. An attorney for the family previously said the firearm used in the shooting was locked away on a high closet shelf, but the boy said he took it from his mother’s purse on her dresser. Taylor said the weapon had been secured with a trigger lock, but officials said they never found one.
Parker faces a separate criminal trial in December on eight counts of felony child neglect after a special grand jury found that she showed a “reckless disregard for the human life” of other students in the school. Each count is punishable by up to five years in prison.
A former Virginia teacher who was shot by a 6-year-old student in her classroom in 2023 testified Thursday that she thought she had died that day.
FILE – Abby Zwerner, a teacher who was shot at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Va., by her 6-year-old student last year, talks to reporter Peter Dujardin, Jan. 3, 2024, in Virginia Beach, Va. (Stephen M. Katz /The Virginian-Pilot via AP)(AP/Stephen M. Katz)
FILE – Abby Zwerner, a teacher who was shot at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Va., by her 6-year-old student last year, talks to reporter Peter Dujardin, Jan. 3, 2024, in Virginia Beach, Va. (Stephen M. Katz /The Virginian-Pilot via AP)(AP/Stephen M. Katz)
A former Virginia teacher who was shot by a 6-year-old student in her classroom in 2023 testified Thursday that she thought she had died that day.
Abby Zwerner testified in her $40 million lawsuit filed against a former assistant principal who is accused of ignoring multiple warnings that the student had a gun.
Zwerner was shot in the hand and chest in January 2023 as she sat at a reading table in her first-grade classroom at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News. Zwerner spent nearly two weeks in the hospital, required six surgeries and does not have the full use of her left hand. A bullet narrowly missed her heart and remains in her chest.
“I thought I had died. I thought I was either on my way to heaven or in heaven,” Zwerner testified. “But then it all got black. And so, I then thought I wasn’t going there. And then my next memory is I see two co-workers around me and I process that I’m hurt and they’re putting pressure on where I’m hurt.”
The shooting sent shock waves through the military shipbuilding community and the country, with many wondering how a child so young could access a gun and shoot his teacher.
Zwerner no longer works for the school district and has said she has no plans to teach again. It was revealed in court Wednesday that she has become a licensed cosmetologist.
Zwerner answered questions on the stand for more than an hour.
A physician testified Wednesday that Zwerner can’t make a tight fist with her left hand, which has less than half its normal grip strength.
Former assistant principal Ebony Parker is accused of failing to act after several people voiced concerns to her in the hours before the shooting that the student had a gun in his backpack.
Zwerner testified she first heard about the gun prior to class recess from a reading specialist. The shooting happened a few hours later.
Despite her injuries, Zwerner was able to hustle her students out of the classroom. She eventually passed out in the school office.
“The moment went by very fast,” she said.
Parker is the only defendant in the lawsuit. A judge previously dismissed the district’s superintendent and the school principal as defendants.
Parker faces a separate criminal trial next month on eight counts of felony child neglect. Each of the counts is punishable by up to five years in prison upon a conviction.
The student’s mother was sentenced to nearly four years in prison for felony child neglect and federal weapons charges. Her son told authorities he got his mother’s handgun by climbing onto a drawer to reach the top of a dresser, where the firearm was in his mom’s purse.
A teen has been arrested after being accused of shooting a 16-year-old dead at a park, Florida officials said.
Getty Images/iStockphoto
A 16-year-old was left dead after asking another teen to apologize for bumping into him, Florida officials said.
On Oct. 9, a 15-year-old student at Oak Ridge High School bumped into Pinien Dalmacy, according to a Facebook post by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.
When the teen was asked by Dalmacy to apologize, he refused, so the two decided to fight after school at the Vogt-Meloon Park, deputies said.
An investigation revealed the younger teen had brought a gun and when officers arrived at the scene they found Dalmacy with two gunshot wounds, deputies said.
“My heart goes out to Pinien’s family, who is grieving the unimaginable loss of their 16-year-old,” Orange County Sheriff John Mina said in the news conference. “And I’m really angry that something as small as bumping into someone in the halls of a high school … has now turned into a deadly shooting of a 16-year-old.”
After the school’s resource officer, Nelson Rodriguez, learned of the shooting, school officials were notified and the school was put on lockdown, deputies said.
McClatchy News reached out to the school district on Oct. 13 for a statement and was awaiting a response. WESH 2 was told “Oak Ridge High School is currently on a lockdown due to a police investigation in the area of the campus. This occurred after dismissal; students and staff that remain on campus are safe. Any additional questions should be directed to law enforcement,” the outlet reported.
The lockdown has since been lifted, the school district told the outlet.
The 15-year-old was found in the school cafeteria with the gun in his backpack, deputies said.
Officers don’t know where the teen got the gun, deputies said.
He was arrested on charges of manslaughter with a firearm, and possession of a firearm on school property, officials said.
Investigators believe there were more witnesses to the shooting and potentially video that would be helpful to the investigation. Anyone with information is asked to contact ocsoinfo@ocsofl.com.
A teen has been arrested after being accused of shooting a 16-year-old dead at a park, Florida officials said.
Getty Images/iStockphoto
A 16-year-old was left dead after asking another teen to apologize for bumping into him, Florida officials said.
On Oct. 9, a 15-year-old student at Oak Ridge High School bumped into Pinien Dalmacy, according to a Facebook post by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.
When the teen was asked by Dalmacy to apologize, he refused, so the two decided to fight after school at the Vogt-Meloon Park, deputies said.
An investigation revealed the younger teen had brought a gun and when officers arrived at the scene they found Dalmacy with two gunshot wounds, deputies said.
“My heart goes out to Pinien’s family, who is grieving the unimaginable loss of their 16-year-old,” Orange County Sheriff John Mina said in the news conference. “And I’m really angry that something as small as bumping into someone in the halls of a high school … has now turned into a deadly shooting of a 16-year-old.”
After the school’s resource officer, Nelson Rodriguez, learned of the shooting, school officials were notified and the school was put on lockdown, deputies said.
McClatchy News reached out to the school district on Oct. 13 for a statement and was awaiting a response. WESH 2 was told “Oak Ridge High School is currently on a lockdown due to a police investigation in the area of the campus. This occurred after dismissal; students and staff that remain on campus are safe. Any additional questions should be directed to law enforcement,” the outlet reported.
The lockdown has since been lifted, the school district told the outlet.
The 15-year-old was found in the school cafeteria with the gun in his backpack, deputies said.
Officers don’t know where the teen got the gun, deputies said.
He was arrested on charges of manslaughter with a firearm, and possession of a firearm on school property, officials said.
Investigators believe there were more witnesses to the shooting and potentially video that would be helpful to the investigation. Anyone with information is asked to contact ocsoinfo@ocsofl.com.
LELAND, Miss. — High school homecoming celebrations in Mississippi ended in gunfire, with two separate shootings on opposite sides of the state Friday night that left at least six people dead and many more injured, authorities said.
Four of the dead were killed in downtown Leland, after a high school football homecoming game in the Mississippi Delta region on the state’s western edge, a state senator said Saturday.
About 20 people were injured in the gunfire after people gathered in downtown Leland following the game, state Sen. Derrick Simmons said. Of the 20 wounded, four were in critical condition and flown from a hospital in nearby Greenville to a larger medical center in the state capital city of Jackson, Simmons told The Associated Press.
Simmons said he was being updated on developments by the Washington County Sheriff’s Office as well as from other law enforcement authorities in the Delta.
“People were just congregating and having a good time in the downtown of Leland,” Simmons said of the town with a population of fewer than 4,000 people.
He was told that after the gunfire, the scene was “very chaotic,” as police, sheriff’s deputies and ambulances “responded from all over.”
“It’s just senseless gun violence,” he said. “What we are experiencing now is just a proliferation of guns just being in circulation.”
No arrests have been announced, and Simmons said late Saturday morning that he had not heard any information about possible suspects.
“They are on the ground working and I have all the faith in the world that they will get to the bottom of this,” he said.
“As the state senator for the area, we are asking any and all individuals who might have any information regarding the horrific shooting last night to come forward and provide whatever information they have,” he added.
Meanwhile, police in the small Mississippi town of Heidelberg in the eastern part of the state are investigating a shooting during that community’s homecoming weekend that left two people dead.
Both of them were killed on the school campus Friday night, Heidelberg Police Chief Cornell White said. He declined to say whether the victims were students or provide other information about the crimes.
“Right now we’ve still got a subject at large, but I can’t give specifics,” White said Saturday morning.
An 18-year-old man was being sought for questioning in the Heidelberg shooting, the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. The sheriff asked that anyone with information contact the police chief or sheriff’s office.
The shooting in Heidelberg happened on the school campus where the Heidelberg Oilers were playing their homecoming football game Friday night. The town of about 640 residents is about 85 miles (137 kilometers) southeast of the state capital of Jackson.
It wasn’t clear exactly when the gunfire occurred or how close it was to the stadium. White said he was at the scene Saturday investigating, and that more information might be released in coming days.
Three women stood together on stage at a town hall in Plymouth, Minnesota on Sunday, bound together by the tragedy their children experienced inside Annunciation Catholic School on August 27.
“I don’t want any other parent or family to feel this misery,” said Malia Kimbrell.
Kimbrell’s 9-year-old daughter Vivian was rushed to the hospital after over 100 bullets shattered the windows of Annunciation Catholic School. Vivian was shot multiple times. Now, Vivian is recovering at home and Kimbrell is advocating for a ban on assault weapons.
“It’s more mental health resources and safer gun storage and better background checks and detecting potential threats online and improved security measures and banning assault weapons,” Kimbrell said Sunday. “If the next mass shooting happens at your child’s school, what type of weapon are you comfortable with the shooter being armed with?”
The group was brought together by Democratic Rep. Kelly Morrison as a town hall focused on gun violence prevention, for members of Minnesota’s third district.
“By taking action, that’s how we honor Harper, Fletcher and all the lives taken by gun violence,” said Carla Maldonado.
Maldonado has two children at Annunciation and described the panic she felt after she and her husband heard the gunshots that morning from their home nearby.
“We cannot accept a world where civilians have access to weapons designed for battlefields,” Maldonado said.
Stephanie Moscetti, a mother of two, also shared her fear that day. Saying her children are changed, espeically her son who was friends with Fletcher Merkel, an 8-year-old boy who was killed in the attack.
“My son was an honorary pallbearer at his friends funeral, how is this our reality?” Moscetti questioned. “Our kids deserve safe schools, they deserve safe childhoods where they can play and learn.”
Gov. Tim Walz has vowed to call a special session to address the issue, though a date has not been set.
If a bill is presented, the legislation would need the support of both democrats and republicans.
House Republicans previously released their list of policies to consider in a special session, which included school security grants, more funding for mental health beds and mandatory minimum prison sentences for repeat gun offenders.
For decades, Annunciation has hosted SeptemberFest: a weekend of fun, games, food and music, which serves as the church and school’s annual fundraiser.
This year, the event continued on with renewed meaning.
According to organizers, it was the community that called for SeptemberFest to continue. While some of the programs have been shortened, and Friday and Saturday were limited to the parish and the school community, on Sunday everyone was welcome to stop by.
“I was very supportive of us doing it,” said parishioner Mike Roaldi.
Roaldi’s three kids all attend school at Annunciation.
“We all felt that it was an opportunity for the kids to come together and have fun and show how we’re healing, show how we heal together,” said Roaldi.
The festival means valuable time for kids, and community, to be together, he said.
“To be able to do this now after everything that’s happened, I think is incredibly special, because it says that who we are before and who we are now is a community that’s special, that comes together, that looks out for each other,” said Roaldi. “We have each other, we look out for each other and we always will.”
It’s a topic that’s top of mind for many parents and teachers right now: How can we ensure our children are safe at school?
For some Minnesota school districts, one answer comes from a nonprofit started after the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
Reminders are posted in the halls of St. Francis Middle School: “Say Something.”
“There’s signs all over the school about it that have the phone number and like there’s a QR code,” said student Beverly Shepherd Flores.
The idea behind the anonymous reporting system: see it, report it.
“If students are having, you know, some problems with their mental health and you feel that a student is unsafe, then you can use the app to, you know, get help from a trusted adult, or you know, really any issues that could cause the student mental or physical harm,” said student Addison Cain.
These eighth graders say classmates value the anonymity.
“That was like I think a big thing for some students because they don’t want to like start anything with anyone,” said student Adriana Osei. “And you just like say what’s happening, the student, everything and the somebody handles it.”
School leaders implemented the program three years ago. It’s offered by Sandy Hook Promise at no cost to districts.
“With a free tip line that we can use it to prevent any kind of school violence, whether that’s self-harm or bullying or fighting or, you know, something more tragic,” said Chris Lindquist, St. Francis Area Schools’ director of community education. “At least we have an opportunity to have kids take a real investment in their own safety and their own security and the culture of our buildings, and to look out for one another.”
Eight districts representing 100 schools in Minnesota use the Say Something program. Across the country, that number climbs.
“More than 8 million youth and adults have been trained in the system, and so they know how to identify warning signs and report them,” said Crystal Garrant, Sandy Hook Promise’s chief program officer. “And since inception, more than 320,000 tips have been reported anonymously through our anonymous reporting system.”
And Garrant says they’re seeing results.
“We’ve averted at least 18 school shootings,” Garrant said. “These have been tips, we were the first to be notified of the information. There was a detailed plan of attack, and weapons were before recovered. Credible shootings prevented through our efforts.”
In St. Francis, they’re seeing results, too — building upon relationships educators have with students and offering another option to say something.
“If we get a tip that maybe we wouldn’t have because of the culture that we’re creating here, which is, say something, reach out, ask for help,” said principal Heidi Critchley. “The more we can do that, the more we can help people receive the assistance that they need, the more that we’re going to intervene for and maybe stop something major from happening.”
“A lot of the tips we get that are life safety don’t come during the day. They come at night. They come in the evenings, they come at 2 in the morning,” Lindquist said. “They come when kids are really in crisis and when they don’t have an adult that they can lean on to support them.”
They say having the information, big or small, allows them to act.
“We’re checking in with the families, checking in with the students when all of these come in to make sure that they’re OK, or what do they need, what do their families need,” said school counselor Lindsay Pakola.
And allows the school to better support students.
“Most of the time there’s a plan, and most of the time when we have a school shooting or a major violent, critical incident, most of the time somebody else knows something,” Lindquist said. “And so you know, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
Shepherd Flores, Cain and Osei are also part of a club called WEB, short for “Where Everybody Belongs.” It pairs eighth graders with incoming sixth graders to welcome them and build trust throughout the school year.
Folded into WEB are initiatives behind SAVE Promise Clubs or Students Against Violence Everywhere.
SandyHookPromise.org has all the information you need to know about setting up a club or utilizing the Say Something program. It all comes at no cost to the school district.
Jennifer Mayerle happily returned to Minnesota and WCCO, where she began her career as a summer intern. The Emmy and Edward R. Murrow award-winning journalist returned to WCCO as a reporter in 2014 and later also anchored WCCO Saturday Morning for 6 years. Then in early 2024 she focused on her new role as Senior Investigative Reporter.
