Mourners at makeshift memorial outside Minneapolis church on Friday Aug. 29 (AP photo)
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Moments after rifle blasts reverberated inside a Minneapolis church, Catholic school children wearing plaid jumpers and green polo shirts ducked into pews, some jumping atop friends to protect them from the carnage.
One girl, Lydia Kaiser, was struck shielding her “little buddy” while her father, the school’s gym teacher, helped usher children to safety and reunite them with their parents, according to a family friend organizing fundraising for the family.
A 13-year-old boy named Endre, who was shot twice and rushed into surgery, asked the doctor “can you say a prayer with me?” his aunt said in a GoFundMe posting. Endre’s aunt said he’s now recovering, and that surgeon told the family Endre had inspired their medical team.
Amid the horror carried out Wednesday by a shooter who authorities say was “obsessed” with the idea of killing children, stories of bravery and tragedy have emerged as families share accounts online. At least five children and one adult remained hospitalized Friday. The shooting left two students dead and 20 people wounded, nearly all of them children.
Doctors and first responders in Minneapolis this week called the students and teachers at Annunciation Catholic School heroes for protecting each other and for following their active shooter training as the barrage of gunfire erupted during the first Mass of the school year.
Some of those who showed up to help didn’t know their children were among the injured.
A pediatric critical care nurse at Hennepin Healthcare arrived at work Wednesday morning to help treat shooting victims. It was then that she found out her 12-year-old daughter, Sophia Forchas, was among the wounded, the family wrote on a GoFundMe page.
The girl, whose younger brother also was at the school but not wounded, underwent emergency surgery and was in critical condition, a spokesperson for the hospital confirmed on Thursday.
“Her road ahead will be long, uncertain, and incredibly difficult — but she is strong, and she is not alone,” the fundraiser says.
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