October 03, 2025
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Annunciation mass shooting updates: MPD response timeline; victim Lydia Kaiser returns to school

Minneapolis police leaders have publicly addressed the toll of mass shootings on investigators, and 12-year-old Lydia Kaiser — who underwent surgery to remove part of her skull to allow for brain swelling and will need ongoing care — has returned to school and will receive the Uvalde Foundation for Kids’ National Student Heroism Award. Doctors who treated Annunciation victims are urging a special legislative session to enact statewide bans on assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines, a safe-storage requirement, and to lift the state prohibition on local gun rules, while students’ cards were hand-delivered to Pope Leo XIV, who promised his prayers for the community.

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🔍 Key Facts

  • 12-year-old Lydia Kaiser has returned to school, according to a Sept. 30 GoFundMe update reported Oct. 1, 2025.
  • Kaiser underwent surgery that removed a piece of her skull to allow her brain to swell and will need ongoing care.
  • The Uvalde Foundation for Kids announced it will award Kaiser its National Student Heroism Award, the foundation's founder Daniel Chapin said.
  • The Minnesota Medical Association organized doctors, including clinicians who treated Annunciation victims, to demand a special legislative session on gun policy.
  • Those doctors outlined specific policy asks: statewide bans on assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines, a statewide safe-storage requirement, and removal of the state prohibition that blocks localities from enacting stricter gun rules.
  • Named clinicians such as Dr. Trish Vilsic and Dr. Lisa Matson described the clinical harms they have seen and urged converting medical testimony into public policy action.
  • Archbishop Bernard Hebda hand-delivered cards made by Annunciation students to Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican, where the Pope promised his prayers for the families and the Archdiocese; Auxiliary Bishop Kevin Kenney also gave the Pope a 100th-Annunciation-anniversary button and spoke about the meeting on air.

📍 Contextual Background

  • At that news conference, Minnesota doctors called for a statewide ban on assault-style weapons, a statewide ban on high-capacity magazines, a statewide requirement that firearms be stored locked and unloaded and separate from ammunition, and the removal of the current prohibition on local municipalities enacting firearm regulations stricter than the state.
  • Minnesota state law currently includes a prohibition preventing local municipalities from enacting firearm regulations that are stricter than state law.
  • Minnesota House Republican leaders Speaker Lisa Demuth (R–Cold Spring) and House Floor Leader Representative Harry Niska (R–Ramsey) said their party would favorably consider, during a special legislative session, bills related to improving school and student safety, improving mental-health access and funding, and improving public safety, without proposing additional statewide gun restrictions.

📰 Sources (4)

Annunciation shooting: Students' acts of kindness reach Pope Leo XIV
FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul by Leon.Purvis@fox.com (Leon Purvis) October 03, 2025
New information:
  • Archbishop Bernard Hebda hand-delivered cards made by Annunciation students to Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican.
  • Archbishop Hebda said the Pope promised his prayers for the families and the Archdiocese in a released statement.
  • Auxiliary Bishop Kevin Kenney reported personally giving the Pope a 100th-Annunciation-anniversary button and provided on-air comments about the meeting.
Annunciation shooting: Doctors in Minnesota call for gun ban, special session
FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul by Kilat.Fitzgerald@fox.com (Kilat Fitzgerald) October 02, 2025
New information:
  • Minnesota Medical Association organized doctors — including clinicians who treated Annunciation victims — to demand a special legislative session on gun policy.
  • Doctors laid out specific policy asks: statewide bans on assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines; a statewide safe-storage requirement; and removal of the state prohibition that blocks localities from enacting stricter gun rules.
  • Named quotes from Dr. Trish Vilsic and Dr. Lisa Matson describing the clinical harms seen and converting medical testimony into a public policy demand.
Annunciation mass shooting: Lydia Kaiser returns to school after attack
FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul by Nick.Longworth@fox.com (Nick Longworth) October 01, 2025
New information:
  • 12-year-old Lydia Kaiser has returned to school as of a Sept. 30 GoFundMe update reported Oct. 1, 2025.
  • Medical detail: Kaiser underwent surgery that removed a piece of her skull to allow her brain to swell and will need ongoing care.
  • Uvalde Foundation for Kids announced it will award Kaiser its National Student Heroism Award (statement from founder Daniel Chapin).
MPD chief talks mass shootings, says 'I'm exhausted from all these crime scenes'
FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul by Jeff.Wald@fox.com (Jeff Wald) September 16, 2025