Parents of Annunciation victim look to change hearts and minds across party lines
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Following the death of their 10-year-old daughter Harper Moyski in the Annunciation Catholic Church and School shooting, Mike Moyski and Jackie Flavin couldn’t bring themselves to go back inside their south Minneapolis home.
Along with their 8-year-old daughter Quinn, the Moyskis lived out of a hotel for two weeks. And eventually, they moved to a house four blocks down, on the same street.
The only time the Moyskis went back to their home was when they invited lawmakers to come sit down on their living room couch, to have frank and open conversations about keeping kids safe.
Harper, along with 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel, were killed in the Aug. 27, 2025, shooting, when a gunman opened fire on morning mass. Twenty-eight others were injured. Within two weeks of the tragedy, the Moyskis invited their first lawmaker to their home. Since then, they’ve met with a total of 22 lawmakers: 13 Republicans and 9 Democrats. Nineteen of them met in their living room.
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The house was frozen in time. Dinner leftovers from the night before the shooting were still in the fridge. Harper’s earrings were on the counter. And even though they couldn’t bear to live there, the Moyskis felt like it was the only place to level with lawmakers. For each meeting, the Moyskis would set up their living room with Harper’s urn and photos from her memorial service.
Harper’s obituary reads: “Our girl asked every question and expected real answers. She told the truth even when it was inconvenient.” It is that sentiment that now has led the Moyskis to dozens of conversations with lawmakers that they hope will mean no one has to go through what they did.
“I feel her with us in all this,” said Flavin. “She demanded a lot, and that’s what we’re here to do now.”
‘These are human issues’
In the first week following the shooting, the Moyskis met with Vice President JD Vance and Second Lady Usha Vance. The meeting started by the Annunciation families acknowledging that everyone in the room was between the ages of 39 and 41 and sent their kids to Catholic school, Vance included.
Flavin is still shocked looking back at that moment: “That leveled us; it just put all the politics to the side for a second.”
Shortly after, the Moyskis met with Gov. Tim Walz. They recalled Walz getting emotional and sharing that when he was a congressman, his stance on guns completely shifted after he met with the families impacted by the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting in 2012.
The Moyskis say Walz encouraged them that telling their story could have a real impact. It was from there that the Moyskis set out on a mission to talk to as many legislators as possible, with a focus on Republicans and lawmakers in purple districts.
“What we found is that these are human issues, and if we can set the political pieces of this aside and just dive into what can we actually do to make change,” said Moyski.
The first conversations were with the four legislative leaders individually: Republican House Speaker Lisa Demuth, Democratic House Minority Leader Zack Stephenson, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy and Republican Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson.
The Moyskis’ goal was not to get anyone to flip on their position on guns or school safety. But they wanted to create an open dialogue where everyone could see each other as humans first, put politics aside and see where they could come together.
“They all opened up,” said Moyski, “I don't think there was a dry eye in any of the meetings at a certain point in time.”
Flavin recalls seeing one lawmaker seemingly getting nauseous, which to her was a sign of his humanity.
“We saw hearts and minds changing, and even if it wasn't all the way, it was wild to see it up close,” she said.
The meetings were emotionally draining. At one point, they met with four lawmakers in a single day. Sometimes, Flavin would have the urge to scream after a meeting. But Flavin believes she made a difference.
“I would look them in the eyes, and I wanted them to feel our humanity, and I wanted to see their humanity, and I feel like I did that.”
Partisan divides persist
Some conversations with lawmakers were not as powerful. Last Tuesday, Flavin testified in support of an assault weapons ban in front of the house public safety committee. Ahead of that hearing, the Moyskis met with a member of the committee who told them they would be disappointed with the vote and that what they’ve experienced is “nothing new.”
Flavin was furious, “and man do I turn into a bear when you tell me that the hundreds of families in my community struggling right now with the aftermath of gun violence like this is ‘nothing new?’”
Still, she testified a few hours later, with that same lawmaker in the room, and shared an intimate detail of her family’s grief for the first time: the Moyskis had to cremate Harper twice, after more of her remains were found months later when the pews were removed from the church.
The committee made of 10 Democrats and 10 Republicans voted on party lines, failing to pass the assault weapons ban out of committee.
The Moyskis were disappointed by the arguments they heard in the hearing from Republicans. But they aren’t deterred. And while they’re taking advantage of the momentum this legislative session, they view their work as a long game.
“We want to win, and what does winning mean for us? We don't want to fight because fighting has not gotten us anywhere,” said Moyski.
There are still several measures going through the Legislature this session, including a package of 15 proposals unveiled by Gov. Walz last week. The package includes a ghost gun ban, safe storage requirements, increased mental health support and better threat assessment.
Meanwhile, the parent coalition has officially launched the Annunciation Light Alliance, a nonpartisan advocacy group made up of 160 Annunciation parents, including the Moyskis.
And the Moyskis plan to continue growing relationships with lawmakers. They are also meeting with other civic leaders, including mayors and school board members. They know more tough conversations are ahead. But they believe it’s what Harper would’ve wanted them to do.
“She was so bold and so spirited and demanded better,” said Flavin. “It's definitely her spirit coming through us.”
As the family continues the work, Flavin draws inspiration from a memory of Harper when she was 4 years old. Flavin found her watching cartoons and pumping air out of a bike pump, but with no bike attached.
“And I said, ‘What are you doing, honey?’ And she said, ‘I'm putting air in the world.’ And it was like, she thought, ‘Oh, the air is good, and this is something that I can do, so I should do it as much as I can,’” Flavin said. “And I sometimes, when we're doing stuff that's harder ... those words come to me: let's put some air in the world.”
