MINNEAPOLIS — A strong wind was blowing as Vice President JD Vance’s motorcade pulled up in front of a Minneapolis church. It blew the vice president’s tie over his shoulder as he walked, and scattered Usha Vance’s hair as she took her husband’s hand. 

High above them loomed Annunciation Catholic Church, where a frenzied shooter in his twenties opened fire on children attending the first school mass of the year. Two children were killed, and many more were injured. Vance and his wife each carried a bouquet to honor the slain children, and they walked slowly up the steps to the church, reading the sidewalk chalk messages spread out before them. Thousands of donated flowers lined the walkway.

They paused in front of a statue of Mary, whom the church is named after, setting their bouquets in a basket before her. Someone had placed a small bouquet in the statue’s hand, and a long rosary dangled from her arm. Vance pointed out the inscription above her head to his wife: “This is the house of God and the gate of heaven.” 

No one spoke as they looked up at the church in apparent prayer, Vance making the sign of the cross. Even the protestors across the street barely made a sound. Then the Vances quietly went towards the church to meet the families whose children had been taken from them forever. 

(Photo by Alex Wroblewski-Pool/Getty Images)

Ten-year-old Harper Moyski and 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel each had their own hopes and dreams, Vance reflected to reporters before he boarded Air Force Two to return to Washington. They were energetic, silly, beautiful children, beloved by their families, who never imagined they would lose them so soon.

Their friends commemorated them outside the church by writing little messages to the deceased youngsters on grave-like crosses erected under a little tent. 

“We will miss you,” a young hand wrote. 

“God be with you, I’m in your class,” scrawled another. 

“You were so loved,” the messages read, over and over and over. 

The vice president and his wife spent several hours speaking not only with Harper’s and Fletcher’s parents, but also with the parents of the injured children. They went to the Minnesota Children’s Hospital and met young Lydia Kaiser, who was recovering from surgery, and spoke with Weston Halsne, another victim, over the phone. 

The scene outside Annunciation Catholic Church, where the VP and Second Lady are currently paying their respects. Thousands of flowers line the walkway. Messages of love and hope are written in sidewalk chalk and painted on stones.

One reads: “God is our refuge and strength.” pic.twitter.com/wH0Az27B1a

— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) September 3, 2025

The vice president described the visit as “heart breaking” but “gratifying,” sharing that the parents “opened up their lives, opened up their hearts” to the Vances, speaking about their children and about their families and about the community that has rallied around them. 

And they asked him, Vance said, to speak not of the “brutal maniac” who slaughtered their children, but to speak of the “innocent children who lost their lives, and were full of life, and were people, people with hopes and dreams in their own right.” 

He emphasized that message by speaking of the children himself. 

“I wish that we talked a lot more about Harper, who was a beautiful young girl, who had a beautiful smile, the kind of smile that would turn a bad day into a good one,” Vance reflected, adding that Harper was “very proud of the fact that she just had her first communion a couple years ago.”

“I also wish we talked a little bit more about Fletcher,” he went on. “Fletcher was a very rambunctious and energetic kid. Was a beautiful kid. Had an incredible head of hair…”

Fletcher’s father, Vance, revisited the chapel with him where the shooter killed his son. 

“That was the first time he had been in the chapel since his son was taken from him,” Vance said. 

And the vice president himself echoed the grieving parents’ request: “We should talk more about these kids. We should talk less about the shooter, the crazy person who took these children from us. We should talk about these kids, their hopes and their dreams, and the fact that they had a full life ahead of them that was cut short.” 

Lydia Kaiser, who received a visit from the vice president and the second lady on Wednesday, was just recovering from surgery. According to a GoFundMe set up in her name, Lydia was injured while she was protecting her little “buddy” — a younger student whom she was supposed to keep an eye on and help behave throughout mass.

“Her father, our community’s beloved gym teacher, was also in attendance and helped secure the room, to keep children safe, and stuck with them all until they were reunited with their families,” the GoFundMe says, “even while his daughter was entering the emergency room. Lydia and Harry are two heroes in our midst.” 

Weston wasn’t well enough to meet the vice president in person, but he and his family did speak with the Vances over the phone. Vance, who had maintained a somber demeanor the entire day, broke into a big smile when The Daily Wire asked about Weston. 

“Usha and I spoke to him,” Vance told The Daily Wire, as Usha also smiled. “He had just got out of surgery so we weren’t able to see Weston, but we did talk to him on the phone. Just a little boy, thank God full of life, happy, recovering well.”

U.S. Vice President JD Vance speaks to the press after paying his respects to victims of the Annunciation Catholic Church shooting on September 3, 2025, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Alex Wroblewski-Pool/Getty Images)

“I told him, he has a 15 year old older brother, I said, you can tell him from the vice president of the United States that your older brother has to be nice to you for at least the next week,” the vice president said. “Weston was very excited to hear that. But just a really beautiful family and I’m glad that he’s doing well.” 

Yet even as Vance shared the message of the parents: to focus on their children and not on the shooter, the tragedy of that shooting and the many ways in which it could have been prevented loomed like a spectre over the day. 

Protestors littered the streets near the church, advocating for gun control. Across the street, big signs were taped to the fence facing Annunciation church, reading: “Protect kids, not guns.” Beside them hung a massive transgender flag — an acknowledgment of the shooter’s trans-identification.

Bloomberg’s Kate Sullivan asked if Vance had heard about Minnesota’s Governor Tim Walz call for a special legislative session to consider potential gun laws, but Vance would not get mired in the politics of gun legislation, telling her, “I’m not going to tell Minnesota lawmakers or the governor exactly how they should respond to this tragedy.” 

He did say emphatically: “There is a strong desire from across the political spectrum to do something so that these shootings are less common.” 

The Daily Wire questioned Vance about the rise in trans-identifying shooters and whether authorities should be focusing on gender dysphoric individuals showing warning signs. Vance did not specifically mention the shooter’s gender identity issues, but he stressed that the parents he spoke with want authorities to be taking a serious look at the root causes. 

“Certainly we should be investigating people who are planning on targeting kids, and I think that one of the unfortunate lessons of this particular shooting is that this person who showed clear signs of derangement, slipped through the cracks,” Vance told The Daily Wire. 

He explained that the parents he spoke with came from across the political spectrum, describing them as “rational” and “reasonable” despite their grief. 

“Every single parent I spoke to wants something to happen,” he said. 

“I can’t imagine what I would be like in this moment of heartbreak, and all they asked is that we look very seriously at the root causes, that we look very seriously at the ways to prevent crazy people who are about to shoot up a school from getting access to firearms, these are things that a lot of us have talked about for a very long time.”

“These parents are grieving,” he added, “but they certainly want us to look at everything that we can possibly do so that the next family doesn’t have to deal with this.”

Tributes to Harper (10) and Fletcher (8), who Robert Westman shot and killed last week as they were praying at their first school mass of the year. pic.twitter.com/ivIMlivdjk

— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) September 3, 2025

Both Vance and his wife appeared emotionally impacted by the weight of the day — Usha Vance looked particularly sad, and she didn’t speak to the reporters gathered under the wing of Air Force Two, returning to the plane with her husband with a smile and wave. 

Vance himself appeared to have a catch in his voice as he reflected on his takeaways from the day. 

“I’ve had a lot of good days, a lot of interesting days…but I’ve never had a day that will stay with me like this day did,” he said. 

One little girl remains in serious condition, Vance said, and he looked into the camera to issue a plea to his fellow Americans. 

“If you are the praying type, say a prayer for this innocent girl, who is actually in surgery right now, that the swelling will go down, that she will be ok, because she’s still in the fight for her life, and every single family to a person is desperate that the death toll which currently is at two, stays at two,” he said. 

As for himself, Vance knows that there is nothing he, or anyone else, can say that will take away the grief that these parents are feeling. He plans to honor these grieving parents and their innocent children, “by being a better dad, and hugging my kids tight tonight, and making sure that they know that their dad loves them.”

“Because there are two families who are not going to get that opportunity ever again,” he said. 

“There are families in Minneapolis who will never get to do that again.” 

The viral claim that a Gazan boy was “gunned down” by Israel’s military inside a U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation site is false. The Daily Wire has exclusively confirmed that “Amir” is alive — and in a safe, undisclosed location after a false tale about his death was spread by an American contractor.

The news that the boy is alive and unharmed debunks the claim made by former Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) contractor Tony Aguilar, who has garnered attention from politicians, major media outlets, and prominent podcasts such as the Tucker Carlson Show.

The child, who was erroneously labeled “Amir” by Aguilar but is actually named Abdul Rahim Muhammad Hamden, can be seen in footage obtained by The Daily Wire smiling and introducing himself to an interviewer.

Remember ex-GHF contractor Tony Aguilar’s claim that he saw a little Gazan boy named “Amir” run into “a wall of bullets” and suffer “a shot to the torso, a shot to the leg, dead?”

Well it’s not true. “Amir” is alive and well.

My latest for @realdailywire: pic.twitter.com/OMxdNvHIOk

— Kassy Akiva (@KassyAkiva) September 4, 2025

Aguilar set the internet ablaze with his claim that he met the boy while working at a GHF aid site on May 28, only to see him killed shortly after by the Israel Defense Forces. His account and video of the boy he called “Amir” walking up to him went viral, fueling criticism of Israel as well as the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

The Daily Wire previously reported that there were major inconsistencies in Aguilar’s story. Not only were the details he shared about their interaction inconsistent with a third party’s footage of it, but the boy’s stepmother said she had seen the boy alive for at least two months after Aguilar claimed he was dead.

In a taped testimonial, Siham Al-Jarabe’a said the boy didn’t go missing until July 28—around the same time Aguilar began telling his story in the media. He insisted that the boy was killed on May 28, and even shared details, saying he witnessed “a shot to the torso” and “a shot to the leg.”

READ MORE: New Evidence Calls Into Question Viral Story Of Gazan Boy ‘Amir’ Killed At GHF Aid Site

The Gaza Humanitarian Fund commenced a search for the boy after Aguilar began telling his story in America. GHF’s ex-military contractors — some of whom specialize in hostage rescue — and humanitarian staff took the lead, leaning on connections they had made with local Gazans since beginning operations in May, The Daily Wire has learned.

After interviews with family members and weeks of detective work, the boy, who actually goes by the name Abood, was found living with his birth mother after he abruptly left his stepmother’s home in July. The child’s identity was confirmed through biometrics, and he remained in possession of the shirt he wore in Aguilar’s viral video.

Abood’s shirt seen in Aguilar’s viral video. (Courtesy)

Abood was escorted in disguise to an undisclosed safe location by the GHF team about two weeks ago for his safety.

“We’re incredibly relieved that Abood is alive and safe,” GHF spokesperson Chapin Fay told The Daily Wire. “That outcome is thanks to the heroic efforts of our team of American veterans, local Gazan staff, and humanitarians who worked quietly for weeks to find him and get him to safety. Their courage and determination saved this boy’s life.”

According to sources familiar with the operation, there was a serious concern that Abood’s life was at risk following Aguilar’s story going viral — his story is being used as a propaganda tool by nefarious actors, including Hamas, in an effort to undermine both Israel and U.S.-backed efforts to deliver food to Gazans.

Fay added that Aguilar’s false story about the boy swept through the media because outlets rushed to publish it without confirming facts.

“They owe Abood — and the public — an apology and a retraction,” said Fay, who is scheduled to hold a news conference later this morning..

Aguilar first spoke about Amir on July 28 on an American podcast called Unxeptable, which discloses on a fundraising page that it exists only to criticize the Israeli government. During the interview, Aguilar recounted how he met “Amir” at GHF’s Safe Distribution Site 2.

Aguilar said he told the boy, “People care. You’re a human being and people care about you,” before he kneeled and placed his hands on the side of Al-Jarabe’a’s face. He added that Amir responded by kissing him and saying thank you in English, before he walked away and was shot dead, Aguilar said.

Abood recently posing with a soccer ball. (Courtesy)

“He sets his food down, and he places his hands on my face — on the side of my face, on my cheeks — these frail, skeleton, emaciated hands, dirty. And he puts them on my face, and he kissed me. He kissed me, and he said, ‘Thank you,’ in English. Thank you. And he collected his items, and he walked back to the group, and then he was shot at with pepper spray and tear gas and stun grenades and bullets — shot at his feet and in the air — and he runs away, scared.”

Aguilar told the same story on several large platforms, including MSNBC, the Tucker Carlson Show, and even in an interview with a sitting Democrat Senator, Maryland’s Chris Van Hollen.

On Carlson’s show, released July 31, Aguilar went even further with the story, comparing the child to his own son.

“I see my son’s face when I look at him,” Aguilar said. “I didn’t get this second hand. I didn’t see it from afar and then assume. I saw it. I touched it. I felt it.”

He went on to add that “Amir” was killed by the IDF.

That was all before The Daily Wire’s report last month, in which it was revealed that a review of body cam footage from an American security contractor standing next to Aguilar showed a very different interaction than what Aguilar described.

The footage shows the boy walking up to the man wearing the body cam and kissing his hand. He then turns to Aguilar and appears to ask for help convincing the crowd to let them take food. Aguilar responds by touching the boy’s shoulders and chest.

The contractor wearing the body cam told The Daily Wire that Aguilar’s story is “fabricated.”

“There is no profound English dialog, kneeling at his level, nor does the boy drop his aid to kiss Tony and say ‘thank you’ to him in English.”

Side-by-side video👇 pic.twitter.com/YaQpDmw4CN

— Kassy Akiva (@KassyAkiva) August 11, 2025

“This little young man here, obviously pretty young, he has food,” Aguilar says while recording his video. “Go home, go home, okay? Thank you.”

The little boy then walks away toward the crowd.

In response to questions ahead of The Daily Wire’s August 10 report casting doubt on Aguilar’s story, the former contractor clarified that he saw “Amir” lying motionless on the ground, but could not confirm his death.

“I saw Amir’s body on the ground, having fallen/dropped to the ground amidst the gunfire from the IDF, which was being fired toward the crowd as a crowd control measure to keep them moving in a westerly direction to the Morag Corridor as they left the site,” Aguilar said in an email. “It has always been my position that he, and others, were dead. The body wasn’t moving. Others ran or limped away. I, nor anyone, could verify that he was dead.”

“Considering that he has not been found, and he has not been seen, it is safe to say that my assessment is correct,” Aguilar added.

But following the report, Aguilar continued to tell the story in various interviews, and even added details.

In an August 23 interview streamed on YouTube, Aguilar told the story again, claiming that the boy ran into a “wall of bullets” and that he suffered “a shot to the torso, a shot to the leg, dead.”

On Wednesday, Aguilar interrupted a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, shouting that the “United States government is complicit in genocide.”

“Off to jail,” Chairman Jim Risch (R-ID) responded.

Earlier today, Retired Green Beret Anthony Aguilar — the ex-GHF subcontractor fired for “creating a hostile work environment” and who lied about key parts of his story — was escorted from a Senate hearing after interrupting and falsely accusing the U.S. of complicity in genocide pic.twitter.com/uO6OzmeN1E

— Eitan Fischberger (@EFischberger) September 3, 2025

In a video interview with Abood, reviewed by The Daily Wire, he says he has never been hurt inside or outside a GHF site.

The GHF asserts that no incident involving IDF fire on civilians occurred at their distribution site on May 28—the day Aguilar claims. GHF added that even if such an event had happened, Aguilar would not have been able to see it, as its contractors are prohibited from leaving the secure aid sites — which are set back from the IDF positions, lack a direct line of sight, and are separated by physical barriers like berms.

The IDF told The Daily Wire that there were no casualties from IDF fire reported during the operating hours of the humanitarian aid distribution center on that day either.

The stepmother Al-Jarabe’a, who does not own a phone with an internet connection, was initially confused by Aguilar’s story, which she saw two days after she says her step-son went missing on July 28. In an interview filmed on August 5, she said she believed Aguilar mixed up his dates and actually took the footage in July instead of May. Aguilar’s work with GHF ended in June, when he was terminated by the security contractor staffing aid sites “due to poor performance, volatile conflicts with staff, and erratic behavior.”

Reports from both Al Jazeera and Middle East Eye feature edited videos of Al-Jarabe’a, in which she says she is searching for her son, without indicating that she was calling into question when he went missing.

According to GHF, Aguilar’s contract was terminated on June 13 “due to poor performance, volatile conflicts with staff, and erratic behavior.” In multiple screenshots of text messages shared with the press, Aguilar is seen both lashing out at GHF staff and requesting to be rehired. In a screenshot of GHF’s executive team chat provided to The Daily Wire, a leader reiterates on June 13 that Aguilar was fired after being given opportunities at two different locations but still receiving “negative feedback.”

Aguilar claims he was not fired, but resigned.