The mother of a third grader who was shot during the attack on Annunciation Church recounted a painful week while calling on lawmakers to make a change.
"The trauma is palpable, and we are not OK," said Malia Kimbrell, speaking at Hennepin Healthcare on Thursday.
Kimbrell's daughter, 9-year-old Vivian St. Clair, was shot multiple times: twice in the back and once in the arm. Kimbrell says St. Clair hid under the pews, then followed a teacher to safety.
"It was there that her friend said to her, 'Vivi, are you OK? You have a hole in your back'," Kimbrell said.
The 9-year-old was scooped up by a police officer and taken by ambulance to Hennepin Healthcare's pediatric intensive care unit, the same hospital where Kimbrell works.
"There was evil that day, there was unimaginable evil, but I want to acknowledge that there was also countless examples of selfless people doing extraordinary things," Kimbrell said.
One of those heroes was Samantha Low, a manager from the newborn intensive care unit who stayed with St. Clair through a CT scan until her mom arrived.
"Staying with her was not bravery, it was instinct," said Low. "As a mom myself, I'd hope someone would do the same for my child and I would do it again tomorrow without hesitation."
Low said St. Clair showed "strength and courage".
Vivian was one of 21 people injured when the gunman took the lives of two children, Harper Moyski and Fletcher Merkel.
"We all dropped our kids off that morning, but we didn't all get to take our kids home, and that level of heartbreak is unfathomable," Kimbrell said.
Kimbrell is asking lawmakers to ban semiautomatic weapons and high-capacity magazines.
"I will invite you to come to my living room and insist that you hold Vivian's hand while we do her dressing changes each night and she cries the entire time," Kimbrell said. "You can look her in the eye while you cleanse her bullet wounds, and you can tell her to her face why you are opposed to keeping her safe... To our lawmakers and people in power: who the hell is going to do something? Who's going to make meaningful change and take tangible steps to break the cycle? This moment and this opportunity will define your character. Are you courageous or are you a coward? Do you care about our kids? Don't tell us the answer, show us. Prove it."
Kimbrell's words come one day after Vice President JD Vance and Second Lady Usha Vance visited Annunciation Catholic Church.
"I think that there is obviously there is a strong desire from across the political spectrum to do something so these shootings are less common," Vance said before he left Minnesota on Wednesday. "I think that it's important that [Minnesota lawmakers] take steps that are durable, that are going to work."
St. Clair was released from the hospital and is recovering at home. Her family says there are some bullet fragments that are still in her body. A GoFundMe for her family has raised more than $160,000 of its $180,000 goal.
As of Thursday night, two more children are still hospitalized.
Twelve-year-old Lydia Kaiser needed brain surgery to remove bullet fragments, but her parents say she's making remarkable progress at Children's Minnesota.
Sophia Forchas, 12, is still in critical condition at Hennepin Healthcare.
For more information on how to help the Annunciation shooting victims, click here.