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Laura Coates Live

Shooter Barricaded Door, Opened Fire into Church Pews; Democrats Renew Calls for Gun Control. Aired 11p-12a ET

Aired August 28, 2025 - 23:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[23:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LAURA COATES, CNN HOST AND SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Good evening. I'm Laura Coates here in Minneapolis where the community is absolutely joined in unity and grief. So many questions tonight as we are hearing more information from the law enforcement community and the investigation that is ahead.

I want to continue to roll and to have everyone understand where we are in terms of the scene behind me tonight. Of course, this is the very scene where you see a makeshift memorial continuing behind us. People are coming and going throughout the day all night long as well in terms of what is happening here in the community in Minneapolis which is home to so many.

We are learning more information as we are hearing and -- from law enforcement and from those who were the first responders of the day, the unspoken heroes that you'll hear so much from as well. There's a lot that's happening here.

We're going to unpack it all for you tonight and give you the very latest information that we can. Know that this is a community here in south Minneapolis that is continuing to reel and to grieve, but also to come together collectively to try to make sure that they can move forward. And it's not easy to do so in times like this, as you can imagine.

In a moment, we're going to walk through all those details that we learned with our team of reporters and also law enforcement who were there today, and experts. And I'll share with you what a seventh grader told me about what he saw from his pews when the bullets came in.

But I want to begin with the immense loss this community is facing because tonight, we were able to put a face and a name to the two young children who were killed. Ten-year-old Harper Moyski, remembered as a bright and joyful big sister, whose laughter touched everyone she knew. Eight-year old Fletcher Merkel. His family said he loved to fish, cook, and play just about any sport that he could. I want you to listen to what his father said today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JESSIE MERKEL, FATHER OF SHOOTING VICTIM FLETCHER MERKEL: Yesterday, a coward decided to take our eight-year-olds -- year-old son, Fletcher, away from us. Because of their actions, we will never be allowed to hold him, talk to him, play with him, and watch him grow into the wonderful young man he was on the path to becoming. Please remember Fletcher for the person he was and not the act that ended his life. Give your kids an extra hug and kiss today. We love you, Fletcher. You'll always be with us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: Fletcher and Harper never had a chance as they prayed in their pew. Police say the deranged shooter fired 116 rounds during the assault. A 116. All those shots were fired from the outside. You can see here the boarded-up windows that were shattered during the barrage of bullets that not only killed Fletcher and Harper but wounded 18 others.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN O'HARA, POLICE CHIEF, MINNEAPOLIS POLICE DEPARTMENT: So, what's particularly heinous and cowardly about this is these children were slaughtered by a shooter who could not see them. He was standing outside of the building, firing through very narrow church windows on the level where they would line up with the pews. And even ultimately when he got to the rear of the church where an entry way that's, you know, basically all glass -- and fired out the window where a person could walk in. Ultimately did not walk in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: Investigators say the shooter hated everyone as evidenced by the rambling manifesto that expressed vile hatred towards every group imaginable.

Earlier tonight, I sat down with the police chief, Brian O'Hara, who told me the investigation is still very much in its early days. And he told me they're looking at electronic devices and documents and trying -- trying to speak to anyone who knew anything. And he told me that finding a motive is critically important but that, as of now, there isn't a single clear-cut answer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

O'HARA: We have not found any one particular triggering event that would have led this person to target these children at this church.

[23:05:02]

It just appears that this church, this school, is something that he was personally familiar with. And he did have this obsession, if you will, with mass shooters, particularly those who had targeted children in the past, and was looking to do something similar for the purpose of himself gaining notoriety.

And while it is just absolutely unthinkable that a human being is capable of doing this, uh, you know, we just -- we're just not able to bring any kind of sense to something that's so senseless.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: Chief O'Hara also told me the shooting would have been even worse had it not been for the heroics of the kids, of the teachers, of the staff inside, and for the law enforcement officers who rushed in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

O'HARA: So, a parishioner told me that within a couple of minutes, the first Minneapolis police officer arrived. It was just a regular patrol officer, had no helmet, no SWAT gear, no rifle, nothing like that.

And this parishioner was very emotional when they told me that this had provided the first sense of hope that they would be able to survive, that he would be able to survive and these kids would be able to survive. And so, I think just not only that officer and all the dozens of others that responded, um, they did not hesitate.

COATES: We know you are often categorized as first responders. But, really, you're humans first.

O'HARA: Right. That's right.

COATES: And I'm wondering how this has taken a toll on you personally. Obviously, you are a father, but you have to lead officers through this.

O'HARA: Yes.

COATES: How are you doing?

O'HARA: Um, you know, I was not one of the first officers there. I was probably unseen about 20, 25 minutes after the first officer arrived. But I'm a parent, and I was raised Catholic. My dad was a permanent deacon in the church where I grew up. And so just entering the church and seeing, uh, the communion, the wine, and the communion still in the back of the church, I knew this happened, uh, towards the beginning of -- I knew a mass was happening, and I knew it happened towards the beginning of that.

But then, as a parent, you know, uh, just seeing the scene, uh, blood that was there, obviously, two children that were dead there in the pews while they were just attending mass --

COATES: Hmm.

O'HARA: -- um, is difficult.

COATES: It's emotional.

O'HARA: Yeah. Their children are just so innocent. Um, it's unbelievable to think that violence would happen towards our kids, uh, let alone in a school setting, let alone while they're in a church, in a house of worship. (END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: With me now, CNN's Shimon Prokupecz. Shimon, you have been here from the beginning. We are seeing a constant influx of people who are going to the makeshift memorial, the signs, the personal notes, the flowers. One of the things that stands out about what has happened here are the first responders, the neighbors, the community members who rushed to the scene. Describe how this came together for this community to try to save these lives.

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: It's pretty remarkable to watch how this community is sort of rallying around each other. I mean, the grief here is unspeakable. I just walked through the memorial tonight. Complete strangers walking through. Everyone is crying. I mean, this has affected so many people here.

And all they could do right now is just hug each other and be around others because this is the only way to grieve for them. And so, they want to be together. I mean, this is packed here today. So many people were showing up, flowers everywhere.

This is my first time walking through this. It's -- it's so sad to see how everything unfolded, to see the windows where the gunmen shot through, the doors that are now all boarded up. This is a church. This is a church. And this is now what people are seeing as they're walking through this, what has become a memorial.

COATES: I'm struck by the accessibility as well.

PROKUPECZ: I am, too.

COATES: I mean --

PROKUPECZ: Yes.

COATES: -- last night, police tape everywhere, police cars. They have since retreated, not to be forgotten. But there are community members who are viewing this as almost a magnet of that collective grief. And you're able to see what has happened here.

PROKUPECZ: Yes. I think it's -- it speaks to the -- to this community, the sense of pride they have and the sense of safety. Even despite what happened here just yesterday, they still feel safe to reopen these streets, to reopen this area, and for people to freely be able to walk through this area.

It's remarkable and it speaks to just in the face of fear. It really speaks to that, that you go on and you try to move forward and not be afraid. Despite that, many people are afraid here right now.

[23:10:00]

COATES: I mean, you spoke to an 11-year-old girl --

PROKUPECZ: Yes.

COATES: -- today named Chloe, who survived this. And what she told you, people have to hear.

PROKUPECZ: She spoke about the fear, about the fear of ever coming here again. I'm going to just let you go ahead and listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHLOE FRANCOUAL, STUDENT WHO WITNESSED SHOOTING: When I step a foot in that church, it's going to give me flashbacks, which I try to get my mind off. But when I do, my mind just keeps on replaying it. Just like just happened, this is going to happen again. There won't be a community. Less people are going to be there. And it's not making me feel better.

So, the church is -- is not making me feel safe anymore. I felt scared, and I still feel scared. And it's just like -- I feel kind of like paranoid now since -- now, I really like every time -- every time I see like a window open, I want to close it because just -- I don't want it happening again. And what's scary to think about is that what if another person comes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: Ahh!

PROKUPECZ: And this is the fear that many -- sadly many kids deal with. I mean, they drill for this thing.

COATES: Yeah.

PROKUPECZ: They practice for this. And it's unthinkable to think that kids have to live like this. You know, sadly, I've done -- I've covered many of these, and a lot of the kids that I've interviewed, who've been victims, they all -- there's a lot of commonality. They all remember the sights, the sounds of gunfire. That stays with them. And the smells.

In this particular case with Chloe, she remembers the smell of gunfire and the smell of a smoke bomb, which we know the gunman used. And this fear stays with them. This paranoia stays with them. And it is just so heartbreaking. I just quickly want to say, what a brave young girl. I thank her father and thank her for speaking to us.

COATES: Shimon, these are the stories that are so important. Thank you for bringing Chloe to us. I want to also now bring in CNN chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller, and former senior FBI profiler Mary Ellen O'Toole.

John, I want to begin with you because CNN has been digging through documents that the shooter uploaded just before this horrific killing spree. What are you learning about how the shooter planned this?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, we're learning he planned it for a lot longer than we thought. Investigators told me today that he has had some semblance of the idea of an attack like this going back five years. That would make it right when he graduated high school or when she graduated high school, um, probably at the age of 17.

Uh, so, this is something that has been on the shooter's mind for a long time. Percolating, developing. Uh, it's -- it's a lot what Mary Ellen talks about, which is they don't snap. This is a boil that takes a long time till it comes to fruition, first with a planning stage, and then a preparing stage. Even in the note that she wrote to her parents, uh, she referred to, I have been thinking about this for years. So, there has been a long arc here.

But we also learned that there were some things that, despite the plan that the shooter laid out, probably didn't go the way they expected. We heard the chief talking about how the shooter fired through narrow church windows, unable to see the pool of victims that lay on the other side of that stained glass.

That is likely because investigators now believe that the shooter intended to enter the church, to be in the sanctuary, to have an unfettered clear field of fire in a church packed with children and teachers.

And that when the mass started, the doors were locked on the outside, even though he had barred the emergency exits to keep people from escaping. The person who didn't get in was the shooter. And the shooter improvised by launching this attack, shooting in the blind through the windows, 116 rounds, which a number you gave at the beginning.

But what does that mean? That means that the shooter changed magazines on that assault weapon four times before he transitioned to the shotgun, then had a jam happen when he transitioned to the pistol, which he cleared, they found a live round on the ground, and then likely used that pistol to take his own life.

COATES: Mary Ellen, when you hear the idea of him not having sight into the actual church, what does that tell you about his focus, his goal, his intent to shoot without even being able to have a clear line of sight?

[23:14:58]

MARY ELLEN O'TOOLE, FORMER SENIOR PROFILER AND SPECIAL AGENT, FBI: Well, what that tells me is this, that he came there with the intention of killing as many people as he could. And because most of the folks there in the -- in the church were children, that was the goal. And even though the shooter encountered problems that he didn't anticipate, he continued. And he didn't just put everything down and leave and run away or suicide right there. He actually continued with -- with the shooting.

So, that commitment to the ultimate goal, to me, suggests someone that I refer to as a mission-oriented shooter. That means they came there on a mission. Things didn't go perfectly. Things started to fall apart. But this shooter decided that they were going to carry out that mission in spite of the risk and the failures that it presented to them. COATES: John, you know, the shooter hinted in a journal entry some sort of a desire to be caught, describing a family member who commented there. There was some sort of a dark energy around them. And the shooter wrote, find me, I am begging for help, I am screaming for help.

And yet then there were other writings where he said something along the lines of the messages. There is no message. As law enforcement is trying to figure out the motive, which is not a justification, but a motive, some semblance of a why with an eye towards deterrence and prevention, is that what we're all going to be able to have access to? That's it? Just these writings to give that information?

MILLER: So, that's a really good question because it takes us right to where we are today, which is we know a lot and we know a lot that the shooter intended us to learn by leaving this material behind.

You know, what Brian O'Hara and his detectives in the Minneapolis Police Department are doing with the assistance of the FBI and ATF now are trying to figure out all of those things that he didn't intend for us to find out.

To get into the emails, to get into text messages, to get into the phones, to get into other electronics and writings where they can get the answers like who else was he reaching out to? Were there what they call leakage where he's hinting he was about to do something? Are there people out there that did know or should have known?

Those questions, too early to answer at this stage. But will help take them to the answers that you're seeking in that question?

COATES: And law enforcement still endeavoring to try to communicate with anyone who knew him, including his family, including his mother, who they believe was once an employee at this school.

Mary Ellen, the shooter also revealed in these writings their fascination with school shootings. And that dated back not just within the last year or even two years, but back to the seventh grade. That's a particularly dark place to be at such a young age. For the viewers at home, for parents, for caretakers, for educators, for law enforcement, how should they approach such behavior through that lens?

O'TOOLE: Well, that's really important behavior to, number one, to recognize, and then number two, to address. You can't just look at something like that and tell yourself, well, that will probably go away or that individual is just going through a phase. That would be what we would call one of those warning behaviors. You may have -- you may call it wrong, but you need to have somebody else look at it with you and say, what else is going on in this person's life?

In addition to the writings and the obsessive types of thinking that is happening here, is this person doing other things? Are they going down to the church or to the school? Are they doing recon? Are they looking to purchase weapons? What else are they doing to supplement that kind of ideation? So, again, there are three reasons that people don't come forward with warning behaviors. Number one, they ignore them. Number two, they explain them away. And number three, they just refuse to recognize them.

And I've keeping track for years on why people don't recognize warning behaviors. They're very, very simple reasons. You can't rely on your own knowledge to simply say, not in my family, not with my child.

COATES: Thank you both so much. So much more to get to and talk about what happened today. Still ahead, what was it like inside of that church? The chaotic, the terrifying moments inside as the bullets rain in. I talked to a brave seventh grader, who was truly a hero, and he describes what he saw and experienced next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRAYSON SINGH, STUDENT, ANNUNCIATION CATHOLIC SCHOOL: We hid under the pews. At one point, I think, a bullet ricocheted off something and hit my pew.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[23:20:04]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COATES: It's so difficult to fathom what victims and survivors of this shooting are even going through tonight. I mean, children literally taking bullets to protect their friends. None of us, let alone our children, should be forced to do this. And yet the level of bravery, the maturity these kids were forced to muster in a moment's notice, I mean, it truly will bring tears to your eyes to think about.

Earlier, I spoke to a truly unbelievable 12-year-old survivor of the shooting. His name is Grayson Singh. And he shared what it was like to live through those horrifying moments.

[23:25:02]

This kid, a hero.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COATES: So, Grayson, I know you're -- you're 12 years old, you're a second grader at Annunciation School. Can you tell me first how you're feeling today?

SINGH: I mean, it's just -- it has just been long couple days. It has been pretty hard just talking through everything and seeing how everything just happened so fast. It has been pretty --

COATES: Harrowing.

SINGH: Yeah.

COATES: Well, you -- you were actually there at mass when the shooting -- where you were sitting and what you heard and saw.

SINGH: So, it was -- at first, I just -- we were singing a song. And then I just saw glass shattering, going down the line. And we were -- we were hiding underneath the pews. And I was towards the back of the church. It was just -- it was -- I was by my friends. Thankfully, some of my friends are okay. Some of them got, like, grazed or something.

COATES: With the bullets? Oh, my God.

SINGH: Yeah. There was somebody in front of us that -- her forehead got grazed. It was -- her skull -- her skull got fractured.

COATES: Right in front of you?

SINGH: She was in front of me. But I could just hear the screams, and it was not amazing.

COATES: What did you think was happening when you first heard those sounds of glass breaking?

SINGH: Well, at first, I just thought it was one balloon pop. But then it just kept on going down the line.

COATES: Down the line of the windows?

SINGH: Down the line of the windows, yeah. And then it just hit me that -- I just saw other people ducking under, and I was like, well, I'll duck under, too.

COATES: Did you -- were you with your other friends at this point sitting?

SINGH: Yeah. We sit with our buddies. And I had a fourth-grade buddy with me. And we hid under. My friend, Walter, was right next to me. I just didn't know what to do.

COATES: So, you're -- as a seventh grader, you're assigned a younger student who becomes sort your buddy and you take care of that student. So, your fourth grader was next to you, and did you help that person go under the pews, too?

SINGH: Yeah.

COATES: It must have been so scary, Grayson.

SINGH: I told them to, like, hide under the pews and just sit there and stay because I didn't want anybody to move. I just wanted people to be quiet. I didn't want to draw any attention to the back because I didn't want anything to happen. But at one point --

COATES: How did you know to do that, Grayson? To keep everyone quiet, not to draw attention to where you were.

SINGH: I mean, we just practice it in our classrooms every once in a while. So -- and that's what we do in the classroom. So, that's what we just did. We hid under the pews. At one point, I think, a bullet ricocheted off something and hit my pew. I think a bunch of wood just went on the ground. I gave all the sharp wood pieces to my teacher that was under the pew next to us. I was, like, hey, here's all the sharp pieces, and she grabbed them.

COATES: Why did you give the sharp pieces of the wood that had been taken by the bullet? Were you using them as weapons, hopefully? What were you using them for? For safety?

SINGH: Just so no kids, when they were exiting, in case they just stepped on them or something. I gave them to the teacher so we could avoid cuts on hands or stuff. So, I gave them to the teachers so there wasn't any cut that people had from the wood.

COATES: Did you see the father in there or the principal or anyone? The teachers? What were they doing?

SINGH: I just -- I tried putting my hands over the ears, but I could still hear screams of others and bullets. And I was just sitting there, looking at the teacher under the pew next to us.

COATES: How did you get out of there, Grayson?

SINGH: How did we get out of there? Um, the police showed up.

COATES: That must have been made you feel better, to see them.

SINGH: I didn't actually see the police. My teacher under the pew next to us said, okay, it's -- it's safe to go.

[23:30:01]

And we exited, we ran out because the guy was gone. I'm just -- I'm just happy he didn't go to the basement because in the basement -- there are preschoolers in the basement. I'm just glad he didn't go to the basement first because that would have been a way bigger disaster, if he went to the basement first.

COATES: Oh, Grayson, who was around you at that point, when you were getting up to try to leave?

SINGH: Who's around me? There was just -- so, they said we could go. And we got up. But then we had to drop back down for a little bit.

COATES: And you went back under the pews to hide?

SINGH: Yeah.

COATES: Were your buddy and your friends around you?

SINGH: And then a couple seconds later, I just looked over and everybody was leaving. So, then I ran out, too. And on my way out, I just -- I'm screaming for my sister. But then I looked over and --

COATES: How old is your sister?

SINGH: She's going into fourth grade.

COATES: Did you find her?

SINGH: I did find her. She was not hurt. She was, like, maybe one or two rows in front of me. And it was pretty scary. But on my way out, I was screaming for her. I didn't hear her, didn't see her. So super scared.

But I also -- on the way out, I saw the kids that were injured sitting in front of the -- like there's a saint, and it says Annunciation Church, and they were sitting right in front of that. One of the people like -- just -- there's just a big hole in her forehead. I was -- I didn't know what was happening.

And I just ran out. I was holding on to my friends. I was hugging my friends. When I got down there, I sat there. I just saw Ancy (ph). And then I finally saw my sister. And it was like a sigh of relief because she was okay, she was fine.

Just looking around, seeing all the little kids, it was like -- the kids with blonde hair and the girls with hair, you could just see other people's blood in their hair and, like, their friends were trying -- using (INAUDIBLE) wipes to wipe the blood out of them.

My friend, Ryan, he's paralyzed. Thank God, he was okay. And he has a helper that carries him around. And I just asked to use the helper's phone. And I dialed my mom's number. She picked up. I was, like, hey mom, because you hear about it. And she's, like, oh, my God, it's you. Thank God, you're okay. I was, like, yeah, me and my sister are okay. And she just broke down on the phone. It was like -- it was just tiring (ph). It was just sad.

COATES: How soon after that were you able to hug your mom?

SINGH: Yeah, they let them in. I saw a chair just in front of the door. I stood on the chair because I'm not the tallest for seventh grade. So, I was holding on to my sister, I was standing on top of the chair. And I finally saw my mom, and I jumped off the chair. I was holding my sister and just hugged.

COATES: Well, you say you're not the tallest, but you were a big hero. What you did to keep your head and help other children and find your sister and care for other people, it's scary, Grayson. And you were praying, and you were in mass when this happened. Do you think this is going to make you feel differently about your praying and how you feel about your faith or anything? This makes you feel better and stronger that you had that prayer with you.

SINGH: Yeah, I just feel -- I'm just sad that two people didn't make it.

COATES: Do you know who it is?

SINGH: Yeah, I know the students that passed. They were nice but, unfortunately, they were the first to get shot at. They just didn't have time to react fast enough. They were the first people to get hit, and they didn't have time to react fast enough, I guess.

COATES: Grayson, you just started the school year.

SINGH: I just felt bad for all the little kids. I just didn't know what was happening. And all the new kids that were here had to experience this. I just -- I just wish it never happened.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COATES: We all wish it never happened, Grayson.

[23:34:56]

Ahead, injured, traumatized children arriving in emergency rooms, some of them all alone. And the heroes there to make sure they didn't feel alone and make sure they would make it out alive, I'm speaking with one of the responding trauma surgeons after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COATES: The heroes in Minneapolis are all around us, from police officers and chaplains who ran toward Annunciation Catholic School to the doctors, to the nurses at hospitals all across the Twin Cities who saved so many lives, so many of those lives, precious little children.

[23:40:11]

And one of those doctors joins me now. Dr. Jon Gayken is a trauma surgeon at Hennepin Healthcare, and that's where several patients are actually still being treated tonight. Dr. Gayken, thank you so much for being here. Can you try and walk me through those first few minutes when you realized something was very wrong?

DR. JON GAYKEN, TRAUMA SURGEON, HENNEPIN HEALTHCARE: Well, you know, the way that we do things at the hospital when there's even a hint of a mass casualty instance, it starts -- basically, the information starts coming in through our emergency department, in our EMS systems. And, um, you know, one of our E.R. doctors reached out to me right away and basically said, this is the situation that's going on, we're activating mass casualty system.

And, you know, at that point, basically, every one of us has a role to play. We do drill for this. You know, it's a lot of Xs and Os. And during those drills, of course, you're sort of going through the motions, setting up the stage, people are in their appropriate roles. But nobody is really quite ready for the real thing. That's because you got to add sort of the human emotion, sort of the shock of it all.

So, yeah, once the information came that we would be having this event that was going on, everybody just sorts of rallied to their appropriate places and everyone was just waiting and ready.

COATES: Training you never want to have. Thank goodness for the law enforcement to give a heads up so you knew what was coming. But, as you say, the staff, I mean, confronted, even if trained, with unspeakable trauma. But they still had to care for these -- some of very young patients. Can you tell me about one nurse in particular, what they did to try to comfort a child who just did not want to be alone?

GAYKEN: This particular patient was one of the last patients to come in. So, a lot of the other folks had already -- other patients had already moved through the triaging, people had gone to surgery. And we were waiting for the CT scan. I was kind of turning it over for the next -- for her, for the next patient.

And I just looked over, and I noticed one of the nurses. And I knew her. She was not in the right spot where I normally would see her in a trauma situation. Normally, she's upstairs, on one of the nursing floors, in more of administrative role.

And when I saw her at the head of the bed talking quietly and gracefully to this -- to this little, you know, very badly injured girl, I just kind of -- I made note of it. But you move on, right? You keep moving through sort of the protocols in managing the patients. There's a lot of team members going.

And then as we move this patient from the emergency department, from the state room into the scanner, you know, I noticed that she just, you know, put some lead on and said, I'm staying with her. And I heard that.

And as we're all in the protected area, sort of the command center of the scanners, I looked up and I saw her sort of coming through the backside with a little bit of lead on, continuing to do what she was doing, you know, in the emergency room, in the save room, despite the fact that, you know, she was going to be exposed to all the radiation and everything that was going to be happening to the scan.

You know, at that time, you know, you kind of realized that, you know, some of the things that -- you know, the Xs and Os, like I mentioned, sort of the things that happen in these -- in these terrible circumstances, you know, we've kind of got those checked off. But what you don't realize in those training is sort of humanity of it all.

COATES: Yes.

GAYKEN: You know, those are the things that, I think, make us -- make -- make -- make the hospital and the people that were working that day pretty special.

COATES: Unbelievably special and just so heartbreaking and warming at the same time. We know your hospital, doctor, is still treating nine patients. I understand five of them are children. Can you tell us how they're doing tonight?

GAYKEN: Um, you know, I would say, uh, of the ones that we're treating that are still in the hospital, um, you know, they're largely stable from the perspective of their hemodynamics and sort of all of those separate parameters that we monitor. I'm very careful. I choose my words to make sure I don't sort of talk about patients and --

COATES: Of course. GAYKEN: -- respect the confidentiality agreements and things like that.

[23:45:00]

But, um, overall, you know, after I left the hospital this afternoon, you know, I was -- I was happy with where the patients were at today.

COATES: Thank God. Dr. Gayken, thank you so much.

GAYKEN: You're welcome. Thank you.

COATES: Still ahead, we knew this was coming. The calls for action, I mean. And the thoughts and prayers. This had the all too familiar political debate resurfacing once again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR JACOB FREY, MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA: Don't just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now. These kids were literally praying.

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: It's utterly disrespectful, uh, to deride, uh, the power of prayer in this country.

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[23:50:00]

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FREY: We need a statewide and a federal ban on assault weapons. We need a statewide and a federal ban on high-capacity magazines.

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COATES: That's the Minneapolis mayor, Jacob Frey, expressing what so many people are feeling. But the debate over guns in America is only intensifying and the answer, as always, is elusive. Even kids who witnessed the attack in Annunciation don't have that answer. More from Shimon's interview with 11-year-old Chloe.

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FRANCOUAL: I would say to ban guns. But the problem about banning guns is that it's a problem because it will make people mad, because guns are for like hunting, not for like herding. It's for hunting animals, for like getting food. So, it will create a lot of hate if I say to ban guns. But I would say to like -- probably to like restrict everything that just happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP) COATES: Minnesota State Representative Emma Greenman joins me now. Annunciation Catholic School is in her district. Representative, you just heard the mayor about banning assault weapons. Do you agree with that?

EMMA GREENMAN, MINNEAPOLIS STATE REPRESENTATIVE: I do. And what I'll say is we should listen to the 11-year-olds who have been through this and are saying we shouldn't have weapons of war, we shouldn't have weapons that are made to kill people in the hands of, um, anyone. You know, for hunting, for protection. But what we're talking about is weapons of war in our streets.

And it's not a controversial issue when you talk to Minnesotans across the board. And I think that now is the time as we think about what our community is grieving and getting through. We do have solutions. We just need to take them.

COATES: Minnesota does have red flag laws here. There are those who say this may not have been preventable because this person wasn't known to law enforcement. The social media posts aside, there was no, they say, clear indication that would have triggered this person to not be able to obtain or retain weapons. Do you think this was preventable?

GREENMAN: So, I'm going to leave that question to law enforcement. What I know is the ref flag law we passed has been in effect for a year and is being more widely integrated. And we know it's already saving lives. There has been report to that yesterday. Whether or not in this case, what I will say is what we see over and over again.

My community just joined the communities across the country that have had this happened. Whether at schools, at churches, in grocery stores, at workplaces, in theaters, we continue to see everyday people who are not safe doing everyday things because of these assault weapons.

COATES: Uh-hmm.

GREENMAN: And that is a solution. The federal government has done that 20 years ago. That is on the table. I don't think it's out of reach.

COATES: Let's talk about the federal response to one thing in particular because you heard the Minneapolis mayor talking about that often-repeated phrase, thoughts and prayers, and that these kids were literally praying. Now, the White House pushed back through Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, on this point. Listen to what she had to say in response to his statement.

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LEAVITT: In a time of mourning like this, when beautiful young children were killed while praying in a church, it's utterly disrespectful to deride the power of prayer in this country.

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COATES: What's your response?

GREENMAN: I think we should listen to the principal and what he said yesterday at Annunciation, which is when you pray, move your feet. I was with thousands of people yesterday. There were vigils across Minnesota and across Minneapolis with these families and kids and people in their faith communities.

This is something that happened at a church as kids were literally praying. It is not, I think, disrespectful to say when you pray, move your feet, protect these kids. We have to move our feet to ensure that we are valuing and preferencing children, families' safety over guns and the gun industry.

COATES: We know that the shooter changed the name, um, from one name to another. There are some who look at this and say this is an issue about gender identity, and this is where the investigation and the public debate should go next.

[23:55:00]

What's your reaction?

GREENMAN: This was a shooter who, like we have seen over and over and over again, wanted to do this for notoriety, had lots of stuff going on in their lives. That is not and should not be the focus.

What law enforcement is saying, they said it today, is we need to focus on the families, we need to focus on the fact that the one common denominator of this is that there was an assault -- assault weapons. And that is what we can stop and prevent.

And I think everything else is both a distraction and is an attempt to politicize the grief of these people. But when we look at this, Minneapolis is just -- this is just my community today. We have seen this across the country. And it is not the identity of those folks, it is the -- that people can get their hands on this and cause mass casualties.

COATES: These are all our children. Thank you so much for being here, representative. I appreciate it. State Rep. Emma Freeman, thank you.

And I want to thank all of you as well for watching. "Anderson Cooper 360" is next.

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