A lone shooter opened fire during a school Mass at Annunciation Church, killing two children and injuring 15 children and three adults. Injured children ranged from 6 to 15 years old. Students, older children, teachers and staff moved students under the pews and shielded them, actions that reduced casualties. One child covered another and absorbed a shotgun blast. The school's buddy system, pairing older students with younger ones for guidance and seating, enabled older children to protect younger peers quickly. The coordinated actions of adults and students likely prevented greater loss of life.
We had one kid that covered up another kid and took a shotgun blast to his back," Marty Scheerer, chief of Hennepin Emergency Medical Services, said on Thursday.
"Adults were protecting children, older children were protecting younger children," he said. "It could have been significantly worse without their heroic actions."
Sheerer added: "The teachers were amazing. The teachers were getting shot at. They were protecting the kids."
"So for instance, seventh graders get, say, a third and a first grader, and they walk to church, school Mass, with each buddy [holding] a hand, and they sit next to them in church, teach them how to do church," he says.
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