Nurse Climbed Into CT Scanner to Calm Child, Surgeon Recalls After School Shooting

When victims of the Annunciation Catholic Church school shooting began arriving at Hennepin Healthcare on August 27, 2025, medical teams mobilized for what would become an extraordinary emergency response. Amid the organized chaos of trauma care for multiple victims, one healthcare professional's actions stood out for embodying nursing's deepest values.

Dr. Jon Gayken, a trauma surgeon at Hennepin Healthcare, shared a powerful moment that unfolded during the crisis. "One of the victims came in and in the emergency department — this was a nurse manager from another unit, didn't have anything to do with what we would normally respond to — and one of the children were very scared and alone, because everybody was running about doing their jobs.  And she went into the CT scanner with the patient, putting herself basically in the harm’s way of radiation, which normally we would evacuate the room," Gayken explained.

The nurse manager, not typically involved in emergency trauma response, recognized something critical that could have been overlooked in the urgency of medical treatment: a frightened child alone in an overwhelming environment. While clinical staff focused on stabilizing patients and addressing life-threatening injuries, this nurse stepped forward to provide essential emotional support.

The shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church claimed the lives of two children—8-year-old Fletcher Merkel and 10-year-old Harper Moyski—and left eighteen others injured, including fifteen children. Despite the severity of the mass casualty event, medical teams achieved what many called "nearly impossible" in their coordinated response, with all injured victims expected to recover.

As the community recovers from this horrific and senseless act of violence, the actions of healthcare professionals like this nurse manager remind us that medicine's highest purpose extends beyond saving lives to preserving dignity and providing comfort, even in our darkest moments.

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