Amy Forchas Minneapolis pediatric nurse at Hennepin Healthcare is forced to treat 12 year old daughter, Sophia Forchas who is one of the critical victims brought in from the Annunciation Catholic Church school shooting as the girl has a long road of recovery ahead of her.
The mother of a 12 year old girl who was injured during Wednesday’s mass shooting at a Minneapolis Catholic school was working in iCU when her daughter was brought in for emergency surgery.
Amy Forchas had rushed over to Hennepin Healthcare where she worked as a pediatric nurse to assist with the influx of victims from Annunciation Catholic school shooting. One of those victims was her daughter, Sophia Forchas.
Transgender shooter fired 119 shots at kids he wanted to see suffer
Critically wounded 12 year old Minneapolis girl has long road ahead of her
Forchas, a pediatric critical care nurse, was on the front lines of treating the distressed, bleeding, terrified young children as they arrived.
The shooting allegedly at the hands of a former student, Robin Westman, 23, formerly Robert Westman a male who now identified as a female transgender had left two young children dead, 17 injured, including 14 injured. He had targeted the children as they prayed and sat in the pews and attempted to barricade the doors to stop the children from fleeing. The shooter went on to take their own life in the back of the school church.
‘Her mother arrived at work to help during the tragedy, before knowing it was her children’s school that was attacked, and that her daughter was critically injured,’ a family friend wrote in a GoFundme fundraiser for the 12 year old girl.
Greek Orthodox church where family are parishioners speaks on behalf of family & victims
‘Her parents are by her side, holding onto hope while also trying to support their son through the emotional aftermath.’
Sophia had emergency surgery at her mother’s hospital and doctors were working to stabilize her in the ICU, they added. Sophia is expected to survive but her journey to recovery will be a long one.
‘Her road ahead will be long, uncertain, and incredibly difficult – but she is strong, and she is not alone,’ they wrote.
Adding, ‘Adding to the heartbreak, her younger brother was also inside the school during the shooting.
Though he was physically unharmed, the trauma of witnessing such a terrifying event – and knowing his sister was critically injured – is something no child should ever experience.’
Annunciation School shooting motive explored
Father Timothy Sas of St Mary’s Greek Orthodox Church in Minneapolis, where the Forchas family are parishioners, urged prayers for her recovery.
‘Sophia was born and raised in our St. Mary’s parish, immersed in the life of the Church together with her extended family of several generations who are devoted members of our congregation,’ he wrote online.
The Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis, is a private elementary school with about 395 students, from kindergarten to eighth grade. The Catholic school’s approach to teaching is one of faith-based learning according to its website.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said many of the families are ‘in shock, disbelief.’
Up to 50-100 gunshots were fired the police chief said. The attack occurred during a Mass marking the first week of school.
Of note, the shooter’s mother, Mary Grace Westman, spent five years working as a secretary at the school until she retired in 2021. The parent signed off on her son’s name change in 2020 after a then Robert Westman petitioned to have their name changed to Robin while still a minor, at age 17.
Commentators on social media have since wondered whether the shooting was a violent response and repudiation of the gunman’s ‘repressed’ upbringing at the hands of his Catholic mother who had once attended rallies against Planned Parenthood.
Others meanwhile questioned whether the shooter had come to be radicalized by online forums which attract disaffected and disillusioned young men to express their grievances and sometimes encourage them to carry violent actions against society.
Wednesday’s school shooting marked the 44th school shooting in the US this year, according to a CNN analysis. For the year 2024, there were 43 school mass shootings.
