A neurosurgeon has expressed there is ‘a glimmer of hope’ for a 12-year-old girl severely hurt during the shooting at a Minneapolis church last month.

Sophia Forchas was the most critically injured among the children who survived the violent attack by a transgender shooter at the Church of the Annunciation on August 27.

Two students were killed and 21 were injured in the shooting perpetrated by Robin Westman, 23, who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

All the victims of the shooting that were being treated at Hennepin Healthcare trauma center have been discharged, except for Sophia.

‘To be direct, Sophia remains in a critical state in the intensive care unit. There’s a possibility she could become the third casualty of this tragedy,’ her neurosurgeon, Dr. Walt Galicich, stated at a press briefing on Friday.

‘But the door has been opened a little bit and there’s some rays of hope shining through,’ he added.

Galicich explained that Sophia was shot in the temporal lobe, which is crucial for processing sensory data, managing memory functions, and interpreting language.

The bullet, he noted, is still lodged in Sophia’s brain, having caused significant harm to a major blood vessel. Surgeons had to remove the left portion of her skull to alleviate swelling.

‘If you had told me at this juncture, 10 days later, that we’d be standing here with any ray of hope, I would have said it would take a miracle,’ Galicich said.

Sophia is being kept in a medically induced coma most of the time to control the pressure on her brain, he said.

Galicich added that she is opening her eyes and showing some awareness of her surroundings. She even has some movement in her right leg, but as of now, she’s still not responding to commands, he said.

‘It’s day by day, and I can’t tell you how this is going to end,’ the doctor said. ‘I know she’s had a stroke from that injury to that blood vessel. I don’t know what her permanent deficits are going to be. But we’re a little bit more optimistic that she’s going to survive.’ 

Sophia’s father, Tom Forchas, spoke next and had harsh words for the shooter, who opened fire on students at Annunciation Catholic School during their first Mass of the academic year.

‘Just over one week ago, the world witnessed a heinous act committed by a coward. To carry out such an atrocity against innocent children, children who were praying during Mass, is unfathomable,’ Forchas said.

‘In this horrific act of violence, my daughter, my precious angel…suffered a gunshot wound to the head,’ he continued. ‘Sophia is kind. She is brilliant. She is full of life. She is an innocent child who was attacked while in prayer.’

‘These past 10 days have been the longest and hardest of our lives,’ he said.

Forchas revealed that Sophia’s 9-year-old brother was also in the church but wasn’t hit.

He thanked the Galicich and Sophia’s medical team, including his wife Amy Forchas, a pediatric care nurse who has not left their daughter’s side since she was brought to the hospital.

He also expressed gratitude for the support his family has gotten from people all over the world.

‘Sophia has received prayers from across the globe,’ he said. ‘It is nothing short of miraculous to know that millions of people have lifted her name in hundreds of millions of prayers.’ 

‘We have heard of prayers from Oslo to Johannesburg, from Sydney to Santiago, from Vietnam to Canada, from Mount Athos, Greece, to Minneapolis, Minnesota.’ 

Forchas said the compassion and love of ‘everyone who has helped us through this nightmare’ is helping them get through this.

‘Sophia is strong. Sophia is fighting. And Sophia is going to win this fight for all of humanity,’ he said.