The two children killed in the shooting at a Catholic church in Minneapolis were identified Thursday by the Hennepin County medical examiner’s office as 8-year-old Fletcher Alexander Merkel and 10-year-old Harper Lillian Moyski.

The children, who were attending an all-school Mass at the Annunciation Catholic Church in south Minneapolis on Wednesday, were killed as classmates and teachers scrambled for cover from a hail of bullets and flying glass. Eighteen others, including 15 children, were injured, officials said.

Jesse Merkel, Fletcher’s father, delivered remarks outside the Annunciation Catholic Church on Thursday and asked that people remember his son “for the person he was and not the act that ended his life.” He also advised other parents, “Give your kids an extra hug and kiss tod

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