Heroic Minneapolis middle schoolers prevented a “significantly worse” tragedy during Wednesday’s mass shooting as they shielded their younger peers because of the school’s “buddy system.”

Officials at Annunciation Catholic School have long paired older students with younger kids during the annual back-to-school Mass so the lower grades learn how to behave in church.

“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,” Michael Burt, a father whose five kids attend the school, told NPR on Thursday. 7

Students were captured on video running out of the church, as older students rushed the children out the doors, according to v

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