In south Minneapolis, a bedroom on the second floor sits almost exactly as it did before. It is the preserved world of a young boy, suspended in time.
The room belonged to 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel. To his parents, Jesse and Mollie, it has become a quiet memorial to the son they lost.
Fletcher was one of two students killed when a gunman opened fire at 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,” Mollie said.
Lou Bopp
Over the years, I have stepped inside many bedrooms like Fletcher’s. Still photographer Lou Bopp and I visited eight of them while making the Netflix short documentary “All the Empty Rooms.” The film won an Academy Award last March.
But that night did not mark an ending. We will keep documenting these empty bedrooms for any families who wish to take part, for as long as America’s school shooting epidemic continues.
These rooms are sacred places. Parents may keep the photographs private, or, if they choose, share them with the world.
Family Photo
“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.
Lou Bopp
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.”
Lou Bopp
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.”
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