Records detail law enforcement response but do not address shooter’s motive
Minneapolis city officials released nearly 1,500 photographs and hundreds of pages of witness interviews, evidence and officer accounts this week in response to a public-records request, documenting the law enforcement response to the deadly Aug. 27, 2025, shooting at Annunciation Church and School.
The records document the swift and widespread response by law enforcement officers, who arrived within minutes and began triaging injured students. Dispatch records showed that the first officers arrived about three and a half minutes after the first report of a possible shooting.
Dozens of officers from the Minneapolis Police Department and a half-dozen other state, federal and neighboring local law enforcement agencies converged on the scene, according to the documents.
The newly released files detail the scene, the evidence collected and statements from witnesses and officers, describing the law enforcement response to the shooting. The records do not explain why Westman launched the attack.
Westman killed 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel and 10-year-old Harper Moyski and wounded at least 21 other children and adults before dying by suicide, according to the Associated Press.