Funeral for Annunciation shooting victim set for Sunday afternoon

Eva Herscowitz and Eleanor Hildebrandt, Star Tribune on Sep 7, 2025

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The funeral for Fletcher Merkel, the 8-year-old boy killed in the Aug. 27 mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church, will be held Sunday at a Minneapolis church.

The service, which is open to the public and will be livestreamed, begins at 4 p.m. at Mount Olivet Lutheran Church following a 2 p.m. visitation. Attendees are asked to wear bright colors to honor Fletcher, who an obituary said was “always in motion, dancing with every touchdown he scored in flag football, or playing basketball in the driveway with his older brother and neighborhood friends.”

A celebration of life for Harper Moyski, the 10-year-old girl who was also killed in the shooting, will be held Sept. 14 at 12 p.m. at the Lake Harriet Bandshell in Minneapolis.

Flowers and tributes to Fletcher and Harper have grown into a colorful memorial outside the south Minneapolis Catholic church and school in the days since a shooter fired a spray of bullets into the sanctuary as children prayed during morning Mass. At least 21 people were injured, most of them students.

A day after the shooting, Fletcher’s father Jesse Merkel tearfully addressed the media, saying in an appearance outside the church that the family hopes to heal, though “the hole in our hearts and lives will never be filled.”

“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,” Jesse Merkel said.

An obituary described Fletcher as a curious kid with “hair that often defied gravity and an infectious smile.” He loved to cook with his parents, fish with his dad and travel.

“He was looking forward to going to his first Packers game at Lambeau Field this fall, with dreams of being an NFL player one day himself,” the obit read.

Just weeks before the shooting, Fletcher’s personality reached thousands of Twin Cities residents during a brief on-air moment on KDWB radio. His mother Mollie called into the station so Fletcher and other kids could give their best impression of fireworks for a contest.

The obituary encourages people to donate to a GoFundMe for the family in lieu of flowers. The family, which includes Jesse, Mollie and three other children, will contribute a portion of the funds to a “charitable cause.”

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