Another child's room now a silent memorial to the toll of school shootings

In south Minneapolis, a second-floor bedroom remains much as it was. A boy's life — frozen in time.

The room belonged to 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel. For his parents, Jesse and Mollie, it's a silent memorial. 

Fletcher was one of two students killed by a gunman who opened fire at the Annunciation Catholic Church and School on Aug. 27, 2025.

"He's not with us the way we want him to be, but this is the best we have," Jesse said. "It's one of the most personal monuments to who he was as a person." 

"If the room's not his, I feel like that memory — like I won't feel it the same way," said Mollie.

Over the years, I have been in many of these bedrooms. Still photographer Lou Bopp and I visited eight of them for the Netflix short documentary, "All the Empty Rooms." The film won an Academy Award last March.

But that night was not a culmination. We will continue documenting these bedrooms for any parents who are interested — for as long as America's school shooting epidemic persists.  

These rooms are sacred spaces. Parents can keep the pictures for themselves if they want, or share them with the world.

"I want people to maybe have a tiny glimpse of, 'What if that was me?'" said Jesse. For Mollie, "It's really important to me that people know who he was. Like in the beginning it was bugs and animals." "Constant energy," Jesse added.

Photos capture the whirlwind just inside that bedroom door. Shoes Fletcher got just three weeks before he died — already worn through. A blanket where he found comfort, its corner loved to threads.

His room reveals what he liked most: Legos. Buffaloes. The Green Bay Packers. Plants that make up "Fletcher's Garden." His Cub Scout uniform.

Fletcher also kept a journal. One page details his plan to steal cookies from the jar downstairs, complete with a boast at the bottom that reads: "This plan was successful."

That's how Fletcher lives on to his mom and dad, through the fun memories and the poignant reminders.

Asked if they think it would change anything if all of America could stand in this room, his parents said yes.

"They have to feel it," Mollie said. 

"As a human," Jesse said, "you have to say this can't happen to anybody else."

Click here to explore the interactive feature.