Girl, 12, Hurt in Minneapolis School Shooting Had a Side of Her Skull Removed After Going to Hospital Where Mom Works By Janelle Griffith

The family of a 12-year-old girl who is among the 18 people injured in a shooting at a Catholic church in Minneapolis last week that also killed two children is asking for prayers as she remains in critical condition.

Sophia Forchas, a seventh grader, was attending Mass at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis last Wednesday morning when Robin Westman, 23, shot into the church through its windows, police said. Sophia was shot in the attack and Fletcher Merkel, 8, and Harper Moyski, 10, were killed. Eighteen others, including 15 children, were injured.

Westman was armed with a rifle, a shotgun and a pistol, according to police, who said the three guns were legally purchased. Westman died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.

Rep. Ilhan Omar, who represents Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District, shared a statement with permission from Sophia’s family on her X account. The statement says Sophia “had to have one side of her skull removed” as part of her treatment. It adds that “it is crucial to keep the swelling down,” and that she may need to have more of her skull removed.

Should that happen, the statement said, “She would still survive but they’re not sure what her quality of life would be.”

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A GoFundMe that was started last week to assist with Sophia’s medical care and recovery says she had undergone emergency surgery, and was being treated at a hospital where her mother is a pediatric critical care nurse. The fundraiser said that her mother had arrived at work “before knowing it was her children’s school that was attacked, and that her daughter was critically injured.” Her family previously declined to speak publicly.

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The family’s GoFundMe page states that Sophia and her younger brother attend the pre-K-8 school run by the church. Her brother was inside the school during the shooting but was not physically injured.

According to the statement Omar shared, another student named Lydia, whose father is a gym teacher at the school, was in the intensive care unit and is going “in the right direction.” That student was identified in a separate GoFundMe as Lydia Kaiser, who, the fundraiser says, was injured while protecting a “buddy” during the shooting, which occurred during the first Mass of the school year.

The fundraiser for Sophia, which describes her as a bright and kind young girl, has raised nearly $700,000 as of Tuesday afternoon.