A Minnesota widow is offering some much needed perspective in the aftermath of the Aug. 27 shooting at Annunciation Church and School in Minneapolis.
Shannon Owen’s husband, Josh Owen, was shot and killed in the line of duty two years ago in Pope County on his 44th birthday.
Shannon explained how she also witnessed the tragic effects of a school shooting herself, yet remains a proud gun owner and a strong supporter of Second Amendment rights.
In sharing her connection to the Rocori High School shooting, Owen said she “graduated in 2001 from Rocori and the school shooting happened in 2003. I had many friends and family members that still had kids going there and it was very tragic for that town.”
“I remember that day very clearly, everyone was on lockdown and we didn’t know what was going on. It was very scary, it scared a lot of the kids because we didn’t know where it came from, who did it, why it happened,” Owen said.
She also explained how the shooting at Annunciation Church and School “triggered me back to those memories and what everyone was going through at that time and the families that struggled through that day.”
Jason McLaughlin is serving a life sentence for the 2003 killings of Seth Bartell and Aaron Rollins at Rocori High School in Cold Spring, Minn.
Unlike the mainstream media, Owen isn’t afraid to call out Minnesota “leadership,” just as she has in the past. She told Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz personally to stay away from her husband’s funeral because Walz failed to support law enforcement.
Now, Owen is appalled with how some Minnesota politicians have handled the Annunciation tragedy, including Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who quickly denounced prayers and pivoted to calling for gun control.
Meanwhile, Gov. Walz has joined in and wants a special session on the same subject.
In response, Owen said, “I really feel like they’re deflecting on the actual problem. There are just a lot of mental health situations out there. I myself have really bad PTSD after what happened to me and my son and we really need to address that first and to denounce prayer and all of that is actually kind of disgusting to me because he’s just deflecting that and going right to gun control—when honestly it’s the person that has the gun. It’s not the gun itself.”
“I’m a proud owner myself. I conceal and carry as well,” she added.
Owen still blames Gov. Walz for his decisions during the riots after George Floyd’s death, and for what he has done to law enforcement throughout the state.
“It’s absolutely devastating that you have to worry about your kids being in a church, and taking police out of these schools is absolutely absurd to me. I think that the laws need to be changed so that these cops can be—like I’ve always said—protected also in these schools and not taking all their rights away so that they can manage the situations,” Owen said.
“It’s just common sense I feel like, and they’re both deflecting everything and pointing it at the guns because that’s all they got,” she continued.
Shannon Owen was also interviewed by Liz Collin in “Minnesota v. We the People,” the documentary Collin produced about the danger, the lies, and the lawfare that have enabled lawlessness in Minnesota in the past few years.
Dr. JC Chaix
Dr. JC Chaix is an editor, educator, and an expert in media studies. He wrote and directed the Alpha News documentary "The Fall of Minneapolis" and "Minnesota v We the People."
Liz Collin
Liz Collin is a multi-Emmy-Award-winning investigative reporter, news anchor, and producer who cares about Minnesota. She is the producer of The Fall of Minneapolis and Minnesota v We the People documentary films, and author of the Amazon best-selling book, They’re Lying: The Media, the Left, and The Death of George Floyd. Her work has prompted important state laws. Yet perhaps most of all, Liz has been giving a voice to the truth—and helping others tell their stories—for more than 20 years.
