Pathology with Dr. Priya | A Zone 7 Series: Aftermath — The Forensics of a School Shooting

Zone 7 with Sheryl McCollum

iHeartPodcasts and CrimeOnline

True Crime

4.4 • 696 Ratings

🗓️ 2 September 2025

⏱️ 20 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Content Warning: This episode contains discussion of a recent school shooting involving children, including descriptions of trauma, autopsy procedures, and emotional reactions. Listener discretion is advised.

In this episode, Dr. Priya Banerjee and Sheryl McCollum respond to the devastating school shooting in Minneapolis that claimed the lives of two young students and injured many others. Speaking as both a forensic pathologist and a mother, Dr. Priya walks through the real-time impact of mass shootings, from the chaos at the scene to the procedures carried out in the morgue. She explains how that space becomes a place of both science and sorrow, and why every wound, detail, and decision plays a role in honoring the victims and supporting their families.

Highlights

(0:00) Sheryl McCollum and Dr. Priya open the episode with initial reactions to the Minneapolis school shooting
(1:30) Dr. Priya reflects on the events of that day through the eyes of both a mother and a doctor
(4:00) Chaos, triage, and the painful task of confirming a child's identity
(7:00) Why autopsies matter, even when there's no case to prosecute
(8:00) Supporting survivors while documenting a chaotic, still-active crime scene
(9:30) How emergency contact forms and school records aid in identifying victims
(10:45) The external exam: wounds, measurements, and heartbreaking details
(12:45) Photographing and documenting every wound in detail
(14:15) Motherhood and the job: how parenting reshaped their work, their lens, and their limits
(18:45) Sheryl and Dr. Priya close the episode with final thoughts on responsibility and resilience

About the Hosts

Dr. Priya Banerjee is a board-certified forensic pathologist with extensive experience in death investigation, clinical forensics, and courtroom testimony. A graduate of Johns Hopkins, she served for over a decade as Rhode Island’s state medical examiner and now runs a private forensic pathology practice. Her work includes military deaths, NSA cases, and high-profile investigations. Dr. Priya has also been featured as a forensic expert on platforms such as CrimeOnline and Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. She is a dedicated educator, animal lover, and proud mom.

Website: anchorforensicpathology.com
Twitter/X: @Autopsy_MD

Sheryl McCollum is an Emmy Award–winning CSI, a writer for CrimeOnline, and the Forensic and Crime Scene Expert for Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. She works as a CSI for a metro Atlanta Police Department and is the co-author of the textbook Cold Case: Pathways to Justice. Sheryl is also the founder and director of the Cold Case Investigative Research Institute (CCIRI), a nationally recognized nonprofit that brings together universities, law enforcement, and experts to help solve unsolved homicides, missing persons cases, and kidnappings.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter/X: @ColdCaseTips
Facebook: @sheryl.mccollum
Instagram: @officialzone7podcast

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is an IHeart podcast.
0:02.0	At approximately 8.30, Wednesday, August 27th in Minneapolis, a shooter opened fire at children sitting in church pews during worship service at their school.
0:24.6	Two children were killed and 18 others were injured.
0:29.6	The killer, Robin Westman 23, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on scene.
0:41.2	He had attended the same school as a child.
0:49.3	He was armed with an AR-15, a 12-gauge shotgun, and a 9-millimeter handgun.
0:55.0	The two murder victims were Fletcher Merkel, age 8, and Harper Moiseke, age 10.
0:59.0	Police recovered one live round from the handgun,
1:03.0	most likely it malfunctioned,
1:06.0	three shotgun shells, and 116 rifle rounds.
1:11.6	Now this nightmare didn't end at the school for the parents of Fletcher and Harper.
1:19.6	They had to go to the morgue.
1:22.6	Dr. Priya Bannerjee, I'm going to turn it right over to you because one thing people I don't think realize in the aftermath are the levels that occur, the system that's in place, the things people have to do, and then how it affects you.
1:41.8	I'm at a little bit out of a loss for words, which is a rarity, but Wednesday was a very
1:46.4	emotional day for me as it was my birthday. It was my daughter's first day back to school and
1:55.0	she's 11. She goes to a Catholic school. I don't think you can draw more parallels, except, you know, we were blessed that there was no
2:09.4	incident at our school here.
2:11.6	I can't say the same, you know, there's no words for me.
2:17.1	There's no medical training that prepares you to speak
2:20.7	about this kind of tragedy. So if my words seem ill-fitting or not flowing as well, it's because of that.
2:28.6	All day, all I wanted to do was run to my daughter's school and make sure she was okay.
2:35.3	They're not a lot to have cell phones or anything, so I couldn't text her. But that was an irrational response, right? That's not the
	...

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