Liberals Protest At Annunciation Church For Murdered Children’s Funeral

Vice President JD Vance arrived at Annunciation Catholic Church to mourn two children killed in a mass shooting that also left 21 others wounded. What might have been a solemn moment of unity quickly turned into a flashpoint of protest and recrimination, with demonstrators gathered outside and political leaders trading accusations over guns, prayer, and school safety.

The shooter, 23-year-old Robin Westman—who legally changed their name from Robert in 2019—was identified as a transgender individual who opened fire during a school Mass with three legally purchased firearms.

As Vance, who is Catholic, and his wife, Usha, paused before a statue of the Virgin Mary, protesters assembled across the street beneath a “progress pride” flag bearing transgender colors. They shouted, “protect our kids,” “you’re a coward,” and “do better,” while holding signs that read “hate won’t make America great.”

It revealed that liberals cannot stop protesting on behalf of gender ideology, even at the funerals of children murdered by a transgender shooter.

J.D. Vance and Usha Vance enter Annunciation Church in Minneapolis.

Leftist protestors proceed to shout “You’re a coward” and “do better” while flying a rainbow flag. pic.twitter.com/ZVmLlL85wg

— Dustin Grage (@GrageDustin) September 3, 2025

Imagine protesting outside a church kids were murdered at because you want to defend the killer’s trans ideology.

Sick. Just sick. pic.twitter.com/MoZldJbHjM

— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) September 3, 2025

Speaking to reporters before boarding Air Force Two, Vance avoided the politics of the moment, instead turning to the victims. “I have never had a day that will stay with me like this day did,” he said. Calling the visit “very heartbreaking, but also very gratifying,” Vance added, “I really felt like these parents, in the midst of the worst grief of their entire lives, they opened up their lives and they opened up their hearts and they made me part of it.” He urged Americans to center their attention on the children rather than the shooter: “We should talk more about these kids. We should talk less about the shooter.” He recalled Harper Moyski’s “beautiful smile” and Fletcher Merkel’s “rambunctious and energetic” personality.

The city’s mayor, Jacob Frey, drew his own storm of criticism for remarks seen as dismissive of Catholic mourning practices. “Don’t just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now. These kids were literally praying. It was the first week of school, they were in a church,” Frey said. Opponents accused him of denigrating prayer, pointing to his 2023 ordinance authorizing mosques to broadcast the Islamic call to prayer five times daily as evidence of uneven treatment. To many, the juxtaposition highlighted a double standard in official support for public expressions of faith.

Governor Tim Walz also came under renewed scrutiny for his failure to extend security funding to Minnesota’s nonpublic schools. In April 2023, Tim Benz of MINNDEPENDENT and Jason Adkins of the Minnesota Catholic Conference had warned the governor of an “urgent and critical need” for nonpublic institutions to be included in a proposed $50 million Building and Cyber Security Grant Program. Referencing a massacre at a Christian school in Tennessee, they cautioned, “An attack on any school, whether it is a public, nonpublic, charter or another school site, cannot be tolerated or allowed to happen in Minnesota.” Despite an $18 billion state surplus, the funding never materialized. Adkins later called the refusal a “lack of will,” while Benz described the Annunciation attack as “heartbreaking,” noting the parish’s century-long role as a neighborhood anchor.

Vance closed his visit by calling for prayers for a surviving child still in critical condition. “Every single family, the family of Lydia, who luckily recovered, but we visited her in the hospital, the family of the two who died, Harper and Fletcher, all three of those families said, ‘Please say a prayer,’” he said. The vice president also pledged a personal commitment: “One of the ways that I’m going to try to honor these parents and the children that they lost is by being a better dad and hugging my kids tight tonight.”