A heavily armed assailant fired through the windows of a Catholic church in Minneapolis where students were celebrating their first Mass of the new school year Wednesday, killing an 8-year-old and a 10-year-old in the pews and injuring 17 others, the police said.

Children and staff members ducked for cover under the pews just as Mass was beginning at about 8:30 a.m. Central time at the Annunciation Catholic Church, which has a school for children from prekindergarten through eighth grade. Monday was the first day of school, and the all-school Mass on Wednesday was an annual tradition.

Of the 17 people injured, 14 were children ranging in age from 6 to 15, the Minneapolis police chief, Brian O’Hara, said at a news conference. Three were parishioners in their 80s, he said. All were expecte

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