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Subscribe to RSSThe massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School shook everyone in Newtown, Conn., including the first responders, who will be undergoing counseling. NBC's Anne Thompson reports.
Updated at 10:04 p.m. ET: A teacher's son, clad in black and carrying two 9mm pistols, rampaged through a Connecticut elementary school Friday, killing 20 small children and six adults, a tragedy President Barack Obama said had broken the hearts of America.
Undated photo confirmed by government officials to be Adam Lanza, who apparently killed himself after killing more than two dozen others, including 20 school children.
The gunman, identified as Adam Lanza, 20, was found dead at the scene of the slaughter, Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, law enforcement officials said. The body of a woman believed to be his mother was found at their home in Newtown, authorities said.
Officials initially misidentified the shooter to NBC News as Lanza's brother, Ryan. But a senior official later said that Ryan was nowhere near the shooting, is not believed to be involved, and is cooperating with the investigation.
Ryan told police that Adam has a history of mental illness, according to the senior official. Yet the motive for the mass killing — the nation’s second-worst school shooting — was a mystery.
The weapons used in the attack were legally purchased and were registered to the gunman's mother, two law enforcement officials said. Two 9mm handguns were recovered inside the school. An AR-15-type rifle also was found at the scene, but there were conflicting reports Friday night whether it had been used in the shooting.
Police believe Lanza fatally shot his mother in the face, then drove to the hilltop school and unleashed a blizzard of bullets on children and staff in two rooms before apparently taking his own life.
"Evil visited this community today," Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy said Friday evening. "We are all in this together."
Adam Lanza, the man who allegedly committed one of the worst shootings in U.S. history, was 20 years old. He entered the Sandy Hook Elementary School carrying two handguns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, police said. NBC's Pete Williams reports.
Some young survivors — ages 5 to 10 — described the terror of the shooting and a massive police response that included SWAT officers going room to room to search for victims as students huddled in classroom corners.
More coverage: NBCNewYork.com and NBCConnecticut.com
BreakingNews.com's coverage of the incident
Robert Licata said his 6-year-old son was in class when the gunman burst in and shot the teacher.
"That's when my son grabbed a bunch of his friends and ran out the door," he told The Associated Press. "He was very brave."
One student told NBC Connecticut she was in the gym when she heard “seven loud booms.”
“The gym teachers told us to go in the corner, so we all huddled,” she said. "And I kept hearing these booming noises. And we all … started crying.
"All the gym teachers told us to go into the office where no one could find us," she added. "So then a police officer came in and told us to run outside. So we did and we came in the firehouse.”
The high death toll and the tender age of many victims sent shock waves all the way to the White House, where the flag was lowered to half-staff.
President Obama, his voice cracking at times, said he reacted to the tragedy first as a parent.
“Our hearts are broken today,'' he said. “The majority of those who died today were children. Beautiful little kids between the ages of 5 and 10 years old.”
Authorities in the small bedroom community 60 miles from New York City were alerted to the unfolding carnage by a 911 call around 9:30 a.m., and then reached out to state police and neighboring police departments for help.
An elementary school student recalls the terrifying moments following sounds of shots fired at her Connecticut elementary school, saying "teachers told us to go in the corner so we all huddled."
Connecticut State Police Lt. Paul Vance said troopers fanned out across the school and searched “every door, every crack, every crevice” of the building.
Most of the bodies were found in two rooms in one section of the 600-student school, which goes up to the fourth grade. Late into the night on Friday, the bodies remained in the school during the investigation.
Two children were taken to Danbury Hospital, but they died. A third person was being treated at the hospital, which went into lockdown mode and cleared trauma rooms as doctors waited for an influx of survivors that never came.
After police finished searching the school and determined there was only one gunman, they led the children outside, telling them to close their eyes, apparently to avoid seeing anything gruesome.
At a staging area ringed by police vehicles that raced to the school from across the state, the dazed and crying kids were reunited with worried loved ones.
The shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School that killed more than two dozen, 20 of them children, left the quiet community of Newtown, Conn., desperately trying to understand what happened. NBC's Kate Snow reports.
Brenda Lebinski, mother of a third-grader, said she found a “horrendous” scene.
“Everyone was in hysterics -- parents, students. There were kids coming out of the school bloodied. I don't know if they were shot, but they were bloodied,'' she said, according to Reuters.
One parent picking up his 7-year-old son said the shooting was “the most terrifying moment a parent can imagine." He went on to describe the anguish of waiting to find out if his son was a victim and then running to his child when he saw him.
“It was the greatest relief in my existence,” the father said. “I’m just happy that my kid’s OK.”
The FBI was assisting with the widening investigation, and authorities said there were many unanswered questions, including the motive.
“There is a great deal of search warrant activity…in and out of the state,” Vance said, without giving specifics.
Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy was meeting with grieving families.
“As you can imagine, the governor is horrified by what’s happened,” said aide Roy Occhiogrosso.
The death toll is the highest from a school shooting since a gunman killed 32 people at Virginia Tech in 2007. At Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, two teens killed 13 people and wounded 24 in 1999.
Parent Stephen Delgiadice, whose 8-year-old daughter was not hurt, said he never could have imagined such bloodshed in the quiet town of 27,000, where the police force has only three detectives.
"It's alarming, especially in Newtown, Connecticut, which we always thought was the safest place in America," he told The Associated Press.
Obama said Friday’s shooting, following the massacre at a movie theater in Aurora, Colo., and other murder sprees, showed the need for “meaningful action…regardless of the politics” to prevent more blood from being spilled.
New York City Mayor Bloomberg, who has been pushing for tougher gun laws, called for Washington to act immediately.
“Not even kindergarteners learning their A, B, Cs are safe,” he said. “We heard after Columbine that it was too soon to talk about gun laws. We heard it after Virginia Tech. After Tucson and Aurora and Oak Creek. And now we are hearing it again.”
Michelle Mcloughlin / Reuters
The second deadliest school shooting in U.S. history sent crying children spilling into the school parking lot as frightened parents waited for word on their loved ones.
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- Video: 'Our hearts are broken,' Obama says
- Gunman's mother owned weapons used in massacre
- 'Screams were coming over the intercom'
- Video: School shooting reignites gun control debate
- Massacre leaves America shocked and grieving ... again
- Connecticut school shooting is second worst in US history
- Authorities ID gunman who killed 27 in elementary school massacre
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I hate to jump in here and talk about guns with such a horrendous Shooting happening. I just have to say and I don't want to get into this because all our efforts should be praying for these children family's and the sake of your country. I know everyone would like to blame guns and gun laws for these murders and say that the quick answer is to ban guns and that it would give everyone peace of mind and people would have a simple answer and a simple solution. Unfortunately in live and this world nothing is ever that simple. If we take measures to ban Guns, Criminals will still get them. That is what Criminals are good at getting things they aren't supposed to have. Why else would we have drugs in this country cause you know they are banned. Criminals are going to do what it is they do, that is why they are criminals. A ban is only going to affect those law abiding citizens that follow the law. Everyone lets please stop focusing on such a narrow topic and come together for these families. They are suffering an unspeakable loss that in no way can ever be fixed. Only by prayer and faith in our Creator can we ask for help to dealing with this awful tragedy.My heart aches for each family who have lost a loved one. Love and blessings sent to them.
I am so sorry for everyone lost and hurt! May "GOD" be with everyone at this time of need. My prayers are with them all and their famlies.......
Thank you to all the Police, Fbi and all law enforcement, fire fighters and medical.
Thank you Governer Christie for you fast responce!
here is the real question how long are we going to wait to put a officer in all are schools. that alone might have stoped this. the gun is not a killer is a tool of a killer like a car can be or any weapon.
Cities are cutting police forces due to lack of funding. Didn't Romney say we had enough teachers and cops already??
Go away woodbutcher. Your an idiot.
gee, i wonder what kind of meds this person was on? im willing to bet the farm there was doctor prescribed medication in the gunmans system. you know, the behavioral type.
Another tragedy. If these people are doing this for notoriety should society consider burying them in anonymity? Perhaps a burial such as Osama bin Laden's. -- I'm sorry for the parents of any deranged person but maybe we, the people, could claim the body and dispose of it. How can we show others who do these horrendous acts how little their time on earth will be regarded?
My heart breaks as I watch this unfold and I can't help but say shame on the media for interviewing these poor traumatized children. Yes, cover the story, but it seems exploitive to be quoting such young kids at such a horrific time for them. So very sad. Sending prayers and love.
Eyewitness accounts have been going on since the beginning of time. The media vultures are even worse than they were back then, so hounding victims of a tragedy is unlikely to change.
Gun, knife, scissors, bomb, pencil, all can kill. but it's a lot easier and i have a better chance running away from a person with a knife than a bullet heading toward me at 500+ mph.
Should people be allowed to own guns? - yes,
Should there be limits and controls on what people can own and who should have them - yes.
Can someone who really wants to kill get their hands on a gun even with gun control laws - yes
Is that a reason not to have gun control laws - no (using this logic we shouldn't have drunk driving laws and many other safety requirements)
I don't think the Founding Fathers intended for the 2nd amendment to be interpreted that way it has been, and i think they would have considered limits if they had known how guns and weapons would have developed over 200 years.
The founding Fathers didn't intend women to vote; blacks to be citizens; abortion to be allowed; marriage to be a Federal issue; and so forth. They specifically intended the Second Amendment to allow people the unfettered ownership of guns to protect them from Government, never more apparent than in the last 4 years.
Erick-
Your perspective is refreshing. Most people seem to believe that this is a dichotomy, either guns or no guns, but the truth is that there are shades that should be explored. Guns must be controlled.
Our founding fathers took 2 minutes to reload a musket. Big difference.
quick, make shooting kids in schools illegal, that way it wont happen again.
Arguement won against 25 pages of schmucks who perpetuate victimhood upon other best.
It's time to start prosecuting the people who put guns in the hands of these mass murderers. There is no way the people who armed these idiots should be allowed to walk free. Put them in prison for the rest of their lives too.
What if the people who 'armed these idiots' followed all the required laws? You are making quite the leap!
The person on the assembly line who made it? The marketer? The store clerk who sold it? Store manager? Trucker who shipped the gun? Auto assembly worker that made the car the drunk drove? Inane comment.
Guns protect infinitely more people than they kill. Like any weapon they can and are misused by sick members of society. Guns are the choice of psychotic killers. Guns are also the choice of those that wish to defend their families and homes from these same sickos.
Every state that has concealed carry has seen a great reduction in violent crime. This sad event is a perfect example of what happens in a gun free or defense free zone. Ban guns and this is what you will get in every mall, school and theater in the country. Why do you think these sick idiots choose locations that are labeled 'No Guns' for their sick agenda?
This is totally uncalled for, when are we going to start protecting our children more. This is when the government needs to step in and provide funding to protect future acts of terror agaisnt our children...... Those poor babies that didn't have a clue and now their families and it's the holidays. It makes me sick and I cry for these families. No matter what answers they find it won't be the right answers, never ever.
We do in our state with a police task force specifically tied to the security of our schools.
So far, it's been working out. School violence has dropped dramatically.
president obama...now would be a good time to start doing your job.
According to NRA supporters owning a gun is MORE important then peoples lives. Sick logic from sick people obsessed with guns. It will be such a Merry Bloody Christmas from your agent of death: the NRA. If we just had more guns! Shoot them if you got them.
This happened in an area that voted overwhelmingly for Obama. Sick disgusting people.
Umm President Obama did not do this, the gunman did, NRA provided an assist...let's place the burden where it belongs.
This news story makes me sick, the NRA has more blood on their hands. As long as guns are legal no one is safe.
Thank GOD for the 2nd Amendment!!!
Imprison the leadership of the NRA. Good start.
Did anyone notice that when the shooter was killed the guns stopped shooting...as reprehensible as this tragedy is your anger is misplaced if you think guns kill people...people kill people...it's just a matter of whether these people get the guns from the black market or a gun store...and then there was the Timothy McVeigh approach...many dead no gun...but a person killing people...
Morality cannot be legislated...
As a society we aren't allowed to identify potentially murderous people so this type of tragedy will continue...
Did you perhaps notice that the killer did not choose a pencil as his weapon? Why do you think that might be?
You are correct guns don't kill people; people kill people. I am so certain the dead and their families are comforted by your view (saracasam intended)?
Morality can not be legislated. People can not be controlled; unbalanced people often look stable, like you or me.
GUNS CAN BE AND SHOULD BE LEGISLATED AND CONTROLLED, WE CAN CONTROL GUNS---NOT PEOPLE OR EMOTIONAL HEALTH.
jock -
Did you perhaps notice that the killer did not choose a pipe bomb as his weapon? Why do you think that might be?
CitizinXYZ -
"GUNS CAN BE AND SHOULD BE LEGISLATED AND CONTROLLED, WE CAN CONTROL GUNS"
Legislation can't control the speed limit and people die in car accidents.
Legislation can't control drugs and people die from drugs all the time.
Legislation can't control rape and rape happens all the time.
Legislation of guns just like the legislation of drugs makes the situation worse...if all drugs were legal and easy to get now that would solve the drug problem...
OH, MY GOD!!! This is beyond sad. When this happens at any other time of the year, it's sad, but just before Christmas? My heart goes out to the parents and families of the children killed, and to the families of the adults killed.
They need to bump up security like they have in the Jr highs and high school.. they have metal detectors and at least one cop or sheriff on duty at all times and they have someone searching there bags as they come in I've seen schools have it just for the students, well they need to make it mandatory for all to be searched and there bags and walk through the metal detector not just the students ..
What a sick bastard! Our hearts and prayers are with the families. This is a black mark on our society that won't go away.
To every parent, husband, wife, sister, brother, mother, aunt, friend our greatest heartfelt empathy for the pain and fear and lose you havehad forced in your life today.
For the rest of us who can only watch in horror....G-U-N C-O-N-T-R-O-L !!!!! Support it because or children can not keep dying because we send them to school.
Connecticut has some of the most strict gun control laws in the country. And the school was a gun-free zone.
Exactly what are you suggesting here?
Dear Borderlands,
I was aware your state has strict gun laws...maybe they need to be stronger...maybe we should have amnisty programs that remove the guns from the world, maybe we shouldn't allow as a nation private gun sales that have no background checks; maybe...maybe, maybe... we are all good with ass__les and excuses.
All I know is that children are dying and we as a nation do nothing but talk about how sad and tragic and horrible it i,s while the NRA screams about lost rights.
This world would be a better place is we could all just start treating each other better and honestly look at what we value.
Your friend, Citizen XYZ
This just sickens me! :(
Wow. This is really hardcore. I was surfing for more Christmas gifts on Amazon when I saw this. Suddenly, toys for my spoiled kids don't seem to matter as much; and the weekend winds have been taken out of my sails.
It's wild that we are so numb that many are able to immediately jump into a "rational" discussion of gun politics. I need time to process this latest tragedy. For me, it helps to take 30 minutes out of my day to reflect on life through prayer. I'm often jealous of many posters that seem to have all the answers right off the bat and don't require self-reflection.
America, where live has no value.
Mr. Second Amendment, when is it going to be enough?
Oh My God! It's a week before Christmas. What did those innocent children ever do to that person. Apparently, malignant narcissism runs rampant in America, what with the Jovan Belcher murder-suicide, and now this, yet another act of selfish cowardice. But those innocent children... I can't stop crying, and I'm a grown adult male.
A guy with a knife wouldn't have been able to kill so many people. Time for some tough enforcement of existing laws and some tough new laws over guns. This is getting rediculous.
You are just going to have to get used to it. Many have tried. Thanks to the NRA, gun lobiest and the Party of Lincoln the fight to make america safer was lost a long time ago.