In the aftermath of the Annunciation shooting, the shock feels everlasting and the loss permanent. 

The next steps are unclear, but moving forward is already happening, especially with the first day of school for many students on Tuesday.

"There will be an increased presence of police and law enforcement around schools," Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said. "We are going to be working collaboratively to make sure we are doing everything we can."

At this point, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara says it appears the shooter acted alone.

"We have no indication so far — in everything that we have uncovered so far in the investigation — that this was anything other than an act committed by this one specific person that no one else had been aware of it," O'Hara said.

Frey and O'Hara led a response that is credited with saving lives. Doctors said actions by Minneapolis police officers to place tourniquets on victims before paramedics arrived stopped what might have been fatal bleedouts. 

"I thought there were going to be as many as eight fatalities," O'Hara said.

Since the shootings, Frey has been among the loudest voices for action on banning semi-automatic weapons and large capacity magazines. The shooter, who first posted images of his weapons cache online, fired off 120 rounds; six additional magazines were found at the scene with an unspecified number of rounds. 

Hours after the shooting, Frey said, "Don't just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now. These kids were literally praying."

That response has drawn criticism from the White House press secretary and even Vice President JD Vance as anti-Christian and anti-prayer.

"It shouldn't be controversial," Frey said. "Prayers are necessary, but they are not in and of themselves adequate."

The Minneapolis Police Department, still down 300 officers in the aftermath of George Floyd's 2020 murder, is now dealing with officers reeling from responding to the Annunciation shooting. That's in addition to another mass shooting less than 24 hours earlier near Cristo Rey High School that left one dead and six injured. 

In the wake of the shootings, some are seizing on an African proverb that says, "When you pray, move your feet," as a rallying cry for changes to gun laws. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has contacted legislators to do just that in a possible special session of the state legislature in the coming weeks.

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