A seventh-grade girl who has been hospitalized since being shot in the head during Mass at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis last month has made “miraculous” recovery and will be transferred to an inpatient rehabilitation center this week, according to her parents.
Sophia Forchas was shot on August 27 when an assailant armed with a rifle, shotgun, and handgun opened fire through the church’s windows during morning Mass. The attack killed two children, Fletcher Merkel (8 years old) and Harper Moyski (10 years old), and injured 21 others, including 18 children. Police claimed the assailant died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Sophia was hit in the left temporal lobe, with the bullet stuck in her right occipital brain, according to Dr. Walt Galicich, chief of neurosurgery at Hennepin Healthcare.
“Sophia surviving this horrific attack is a miracle,” her family said in a statement released by Hennepin Healthcare on Monday, September 22. “Her healing progress is nothing short of miraculous; an undeniable testament to the mercy and intervention of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The family stated: “Sophia continues to make steady progress, showing promising signs of neurological recovery.” They also stated that Sophia “still has a long journey ahead, filled with extensive therapy.”
She will be transferred this week from Hennepin County Medical Center’s acute care unit to an inpatient rehabilitation program.
In a statement posted on September 12, the family said physicians had initially warned them “she was on the verge of death.” She needed to have one side of her skull removed as part of her treatment.
Sophia and her younger brother attended Annunciation Catholic School. Her brother was inside the school at the time of the shooting but was unharmed, according to his family.
Sophia’s mother, according to Hennepin Healthcare, works in the pediatric intensive care unit, where she was in critical condition. According to a GoFundMe page set up to help pay for Sophia’s medical care, recuperation, and trauma counseling for her and her brother, their mother is a pediatric critical care nurse who came to work on the day of the attack without knowing her daughter was among those injured.
