By Allison Kite
Copyright startribune
Malia Kimbrell is still changing the dressings daily on her daughter’s bullet wounds. Carla Maldonado’s children flinch at loud noises. Brock Safe’s daughter was grazed by bullets that flew past her forehead and neck.
All three parents’ children survived the mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church and School last month. Now, the parents are imploring legislators to ban the types of guns the assailant used in the attack.
“My children were among the lucky ones,” Maldonado told a Minnesota Senate working group Monday. “We got to hug them after school that day, but they are not the same kids that I dropped off that morning.”
Parents, health care providers and faith leaders urged Minnesota senators during an informational hearing Monday to ban assault-style rifles, such as AR-15s, and high-capacity magazines. Lawmakers are not in session, but they heard several pieces of legislation ahead of a potential special session on gun violence that Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, has vowed to call. The governor is negotiating with legislative leaders on policy proposals.
Those who may think gun violence won’t hit their community, Kimbrell said, should think again.
“Can you even imagine cleansing bullet wounds on your 9-year-old that they suffered while sitting in church?” she said.
Kimbrell begged lawmakers to “take responsibility and don’t let this opportunity pass you by.”
Police say the shooter opened fire from outside Annunciation during a schoolwide mass last month, firing more than 100 bullets through the church’s windows. The shooting killed Harper Moyski, 10, and Fletcher Merkel, 8, and wounded another 21 children and adults. Sophia Forchas, 12, spent 15 days in critical condition from a gunshot wound to the head and has been moved to “serious” condition.
