DNC adjourns Minneapolis meeting as breaking news of deadly school shooting unfolds minutes away

MINNEAPOLIS - The Democratic National Committee (DNC) adjourned its summer meeting in Minneapolis, Minn., on Wednesday morning in light of the Catholic school shooting less than 10 minutes away. 

By a voice vote just minutes into the general session, the DNC adjourned its Wednesday afternoon meeting, approving all business and adopting the reports of the Resolutions, Rules and Bylaws Committees that were voted upon on Tuesday. 

Before adjourning, DNC Chair Ken Martin called the committee to prayer and offered the DNC's support to the first responders on the scene at the Annunciation Catholic School and those treating children in nearby hospitals. 

"This is the first week of school for students at Annunciation," Martin said on Wednesday. "These families woke up this morning to celebrate milestones in their children's lives. Milestones like the first week of kindergarten. We are heartbroken. This is a tragic day for our city and a tragic day for Minnesotans."

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Martin reminded the Democrats that Wednesday's shooting comes on the heels of a "tragic year where we already lost our dear friends, Melissa and Mark Hortman."

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Former Speaker of the Minnesota House, Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, were murdered in their home in Brooklyn Park, Minn., earlier this summer. 

"It's unacceptable and far too commonplace in our nation. It's just far too commonplace. Folks, we need your prayers. We need your faith. And we need leadership to stop this evil," Martin told Democrats at their summer meeting. 

Martin is a Minnesota native and seasoned local leader. He was the longest serving chair of the Minnesota Democratic Farmer Labor (DFL) Party, holding the post for more than a decade before becoming DNC chair earlier this year.

DNC vice chair Shasti Conrad echoed Martin's comments in an exclusive interview, telling Fox News Digital that gun violence has become "far too common."

"I join in with our entire Democratic family to send our condolences to the people who were impacted today, but they join hundreds and hundreds of people who've been impacted by gun violence across this country," Conrad said. 

Conrad said Democrats must put "preventing gun violence at the very top of our agenda."

"We have to continue to stand up for people and make sure we are creating safe communities everywhere in the country, but certainly it's a really somber day, and the entire Democratic Party family is feeling it very much," she said after the DNC meeting was adjourned. 

News of the shooting broke minutes before Martin addressed Democrats during Wednesday morning's executive committee meeting. 

"I just want to announce some news," Martin began. "I'm not trying to startle or shock any of you. It's shocking to me. There is an active shooter here in Minneapolis. Right now, an unknown amount of victims at a church, and school EMS has requested mass casualty responders."

Martin asked any doctors, nurses or first responders to lend their support to what he described as a "fairly significant shooting."

"We're going to continue with our meeting," Martin said earlier this morning. 

When the DNC chair spoke again during the general session, he called on Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, who presented the motion to suspend the meeting. 

"This is a very, very tragic time for this community right now. The news that's breaking is that there are 20 victims, almost all of them children," Martin said. 

Andrew Lachman, a DNC committee member from California, told Fox News Digital, "This shouldn't be happening."

"The fact that schools are being attacked speaks to the state of this nation. Gun violence is always something that we keep putting on the back seat and not addressing," he added. 

The DNC winter meeting is scheduled to begin on Dec. 11, 2025, in Los Angeles, Calif.