The principal of the Minnesota Catholic school where a shooter opened fire outside of a Mass service Wednesday morning is speaking out hours after the attack.

Annunciation Catholic School Principal Matt DeBoer shared remarks in a press conference Wednesday afternoon, and despite calling the mass shooting a “nightmare,” he vowed to push forward and “rebuild.”

“This is a nightmare, but we call our staff the dream team, and we will recover from this,” DeBoer said. “We will rebuild from this.”

According to Minneapolis Police, a shooter opened fire outside of the Minneapolis school before 8:30 a.m. Two children — an 8-year-old and a 10-year-old who were sitting in the school church pews — were killed in the attack, and 17 others, including 14 children, were injured.

The shooting unfolded during Annunciation’s first week of school.

DeBoer first addressed the school community in his public remarks and praised school staffers who jumped into action when the shooting began.

“To any of our students and families and staff watching right now, I love you. You’re so brave, and I’m so sorry this happened to us today,” DeBoer said.

“Within seconds of this situation beginning, our teachers were heroes,” DeBoer continued. “Children were ducked down. Adults were protecting children. Older children were protecting younger children, and as we heard earlier, it could have been significantly worse without their heroic action.”

DeBoer also called for action following the mass shooting, imploring community members not just to support the school shooting’s young victims and families but to also do more.

“We, as a community, have a responsibility to make sure that no child, no parent, no teacher ever has to experience what we’ve experienced today. Ever again,” DeBoer said. “I need everybody to commit those words to your speech patterns. Never again.”

“We lost two angels today, and please continue to pray for those still receiving care. We can’t change the past, but we can do something about the future,” DeBoer added. “There’s an African proverb that says, ‘When you pray, move your feet.’ So I beg you, I ask you to please pray, but don’t stop with your words. Let’s make a difference and support this community, these children, these families, these teachers. Never again can we let this happen.”

Pope Leo XIV, the head of the Catholic Church and the first American pope, also responded to Wednesday’s mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic School, sending a telegram to Minneapolis and Saint Paul’s Archbishop Bernard Hebda.

The pope expressed “his heartfelt condolences and the assurance of spiritual closeness to all those affected by this terrible tragedy, especially the families now grieving the loss of a child.”

“While commending the souls of the deceased children to the love of Almighty God, His Holiness prays for the wounded as well as the first responders, medical personnel and clergy who are caring for them and their loved ones,” the pope’s message read. “At this extremely difficult time, the Holy Father imparts to the Annunciation Catholic School Community, the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis and the people of the Greater Twin Cities metropolitan area his Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of peace, fortitude and consolation in the Lord Jesus.”