Bench dedicated to boy killed in Minneapolis school shooting nearly 1 year ago
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MINNESOTA (WCCO) — When Fletcher Merkel’s family moved into the Kenny neighborhood in south Minneapolis, neighbors told him he wouldn’t have much luck casting his fishing line at Grass Lake.
He proved them wrong, which his mother said is a constant reminder of his perseverance and passion.
Mollie Merkel said that one day last summer, 8-year-old Fletcher caught a bullhead catfish. Mollie said it was “disgusting,” but Fletcher didn’t care. He paraded that fish around the neighborhood in a bucket.
Mollie shared that story with around one hundred of her neighbors in the Kenny neighborhood on Tuesday evening. She joined the Kenny Neighborhood Association in unveiling a bench that overlooks Grass Lake, designed to honor her son. Fletcher and 10-year-old Harper Moyski died in the mass shooting at the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis last August.
The bench is positioned so that the sunset is clearly visible in the evening, a daily event that Mollie says reminds her of Fletcher. The inscription references Fletcher’s bullhead catch, reading, in part, “For the boy who proved there are fish in Grass Lake.”
“Fletcher would have loved sitting here, but mostly, we would have loved running around it,” Mollie said, drawing laughter from the crowd, “but we used to watch the birds and the ducks here.”
Barbara Brady, chair of the Kenny Neighborhood Association, said that she and her team reached out to the Merkel family last fall to see what kind of memorial they could aim to set up in Fletcher’s honor. Once they settled on a bench, at one of Fletcher’s favorite spots, they raised $3,000 to make it happen.
“Everyone swung into action and the neighbors are just amazing for the Merkels,” Brady said. “People were bringing them food for months, anything they wanted; we were there for them.”
Mollie said that she was happy to see some of Fletcher’s friends be among the first to make use of the bench, which is now in place just ahead of the one-year marker since the shooting.
“We hope that this bench can be a place for calm and reflection,” Mollie said.
Earlier this summer, the Merkels started what they hope will be an annual event on Lake Harriet to teach kids how to fish and raise money for scholarships at Annunciation.
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