Mpls. Church Shooting: N.J. Police Force Sends K-9s to Lift Spirits

The Gloucester Township Police Department's K-9 community resource unit was sent to Minneapolis to comfort community members following the shooting at a Catholic church.

By AJ McDougall

Source nj.com

Sept. 2, 2025

3 min read

What to know

Gloucester Township police in New Jersey sent a K-9 crisis response unit to Minneapolis to provide comfort after last week’s deadly Catholic school shooting.
The deployment included Axel, a Rottweiler, and his handler, a retired New Jersey State Police major, working with Crisis Response Canines.
The Minneapolis attack left two children dead, 15 others wounded and ended with the shooter’s suicide.

Gloucester Township, NJ, police K-9 Axel with handler John Hunt, a retired New Jersey State Police major.

Specially trained crisis response dogs and their handlers were sent by a Camden County police department to Minneapolis to comfort community members in the wake of a deadly attack on a Catholic school there last week.

The Gloucester Township Police Department’s K-9 community resource unit was sent north alongside members of the nonprofit Crisis Response Canines, the department said in a social media post on Friday.

The department shared photos of Axel, a Rottweiler K-9, and his handler, John Hunt, a retired New Jersey State Police major, visiting with Annunciation Catholic Church’s parishioners.

The response was coordinated by David Harkins, Gloucester Township’s police chief, and Joseph Williams, the bishop of Camden.

Williams is originally from the Archdiocese Of Minneapolis- St. Paul, the police department said.

The bishop said in a statement that he spent 15 years serving at St. Stephen Church in south Minneapolis, just a few miles away from Annunciation Catholic Church.

“The faithful of Annunciation were truly good neighbors to us...” he said. “The words of Saint Paul – ‘God loves a cheerful giver’ (2 Cor 9:7) – really came to life through them!

“Now their cheer has turned to grief,” he continued, “as they mourn the two children who were slain as they worshiped their Lord Jesus Christ in the school Mass.”

Two children were killed and 15 others wounded as an assailant shot through the windows of the church last Wednesday. Three adults were also injured.

The shooter died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

A motive in the attack remains unclear, but Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara previously said the shooter “harbored a whole lot of hate towards a wide variety of people and groups of people,” and “had a deranged obsession with previous mass shooters.”

The Crisis Response Canines team said in a statement that they were “deeply grateful” to have been asked by Williams to go to Minneapolis.

“Our CRC members are committed to offering strength, comfort, and prayer to all who are grieving,” they said.

New Jersey’s K-9 crisis response teams have been deployed to other states in instances of previous tragedy.

Earlier this year, the Tri-State K9 Response team, which is based in Cherry Hill, went to New Orleans after a deadly New Year’s Day terror attack on Bourbon Street.

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