LAFAYETTE PARISH — Bishop J. Douglas Deshotel of the Diocese of Lafayette issued a statement Wednesday evening hours after a gunman opened fire at a Catholic school in Minneapolis, killing two people and injuring more than a dozen others.
His statement is below:
“All of us were horrified as we woke up to the tragic news this morning out of Minnesota. Words are hard to come by that express the revulsion we feel at the senseless violence against innocent children and adults who were murdered and wounded in the shooting at Annunciation Church and School. All over the country, children are beginning a new school year and Catholic schools are having their first weekly school Masses. As Annunciation School experiences this horrible tragedy, let us keep the families of the deceased and wounded in our thoughts and prayers. May they find strength in their faith and hope in God, who welcomes those who lost their lives into His loving arms, and that He heals the wounded. May He also heal our society that such violence be rejected and a reverence for human life spread throughout our land.”
