MINNEAPOLIS — A 12-year-old girl who was shot in the head during a deadly attack at a Minneapolis Catholic church in August was released from the hospital Thursday and greeted with cheers as the police chief paraded her around town in a stretch limousine, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Sophia Forchas was the most seriously wounded child among those who survived the shooting at the Church of the Annunciation. A shooter opened fire with a rifle through the windows of the church on August 27, striking some of the nearly 200 children celebrating Mass during the first week of school. The attack killed two children and wounded 17 others. The children who died were 8 and 10 years old.
Forchas was rushed into surgery. Her neurosurgeon, Dr. Walt Galicich, said a bullet had lodged in her brain, causing severe damage, including injury to a major blood vessel. Surgeons had to remove the left half of her skull to relieve the pressure inside her head.
At a September 5 news conference, Dr. Galicich expressed his fears that Forchas could become “the third fatality in this event.” He gave her a hug as she left the Hennepin County Medical Center, where many others outside held banners and waved in support.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara, who escorted Forchas around the city, described her return home as “nothing short of a miracle.” She was again greeted with roaring applause and warm embraces when they arrived at her school’s parking lot.
Sophia’s parents, Amy and Tom Forchas, shared a statement expressing their overwhelming gratitude for the medical professionals who saved their daughter’s life. They called her return home “one of the most extraordinary days of our lives.”
Her healing journey will continue with outpatient therapy, and she still faces a long road to recovery. However, her parents have been encouraged by daily improvements in her speech, her ability to walk, and “her personality shining through once more.”
Another child who suffered a traumatic brain injury during the shooting, 12-year-old Lydia Kaiser, was similarly celebrated when she returned to school last week, according to an online fundraising page started to support her family.
https://abc7.com/post/girl-injured-annunciation-catholic-school-mass-shooting-minneapolis-returns-home-hospital/18067012/
