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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: 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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Bless Me Father
FREAK!
To all the "Gun Nuts" out there: Have you ever stopped to think that it won't be "This administration" or "Liberals" that will "take your guns away" it will be people like the one(s) who committed this crime? Or the mall just a few days ago? Point at them, they will be the reason.
Freedom for the irresponsible means slavery for everyone else. Soon that "freedom" will have to be altered. "The right to bear arms" is now burdening the right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" on a daily basis. The 2nd Amendment will need to be changed and all the NRA money in the world won't be able to stop it. As Americans we should be able to go to school, the mall, or the movies without fear of being shot or losing our loved ones, regardless of what you think your right is.
So true.
This is so sad !! how can you not break down and cry for the familys and for the little ones. This is just a horror and is so sad I just find it so hard to digest. Now you tell me about your GOD all you freaks.
Be it religion or whatever! THIS HAS TO STOP!
Guns, knives, boards with nails, garden tools, rocks... Doesn't matter. A lunatic will use whatever they can get their hands on to carry out their senseless act of violence. What this country is not addressing, is that there is not sufficient accountability, not sufficient punnishment to make these criminals think twice about what they are doing. The younger generation today especially feels the world owes them everything for nothing. (entitlement mentality) They also don't seem to think that they should be held responsible for anything.
OK Mitt Romney...we got your MO..but you lost the election.
I doubt seriously that some one could kill twenty or thirty people with a garden tool you idiot!
@ jack yes it has happened in the past. a murder done with pruning shears. some done with shovels to the head etc..
Shooting a Kindergarten class. This guy is obviously mentally ill. Can we stop with the gun control for a minute and think about the issues we have with mental illness in this country?Congress should pass comprehensive health care reform legislation that ensures that mental health and psychologists' services are central to primary care and prevention initiatives and that mental health benefits are included in all health insurance plans.That way doctors can see the red flags of mental illness and get treatment for these individuals. To have thoughts of hurting anyone especially children is a mental illness. Capital punishment for someone who is mentally ill does nothing to help other individuals of mental illness. Right now in the US, even if you have insurance, it still costs too much to receive mental or behavioral healthcare. People who have mental illness that don't have behavior/mental healthcare are in a way victims themselves. I don't feel this gunman is a victim I want to make that clear! But this gunman could have maybe been stopped if he had had the treatment he required. Even when he goes to jail. He will not get the treatment he needs. It's a sad issue I know all too well because of my own sons and my mothers mental illness.
OMG - There is just not much more to say here. There are no words......
GD liberal has gone and done it again.. Now the lib tard will try and use this to take away our 2nd Amendment rights
ya right, sicko gun nut.
No one is going to take our guns away.
We're all going to need them more than ever in the very near future, as industrialized civilization continues to unravel.
From now on, I'm going to carry my semi-automatic handgun with me WHEREVER I GO.
I'm not mental or anything, so don't be afraid.
Have a nice day.
You need to check yourself into a mental ward RIGHT NOW
You need to check yourself into a mental ward RIGHT NOW
To a school. To court. How is anybody suppose to know your not a sicko if your a total stranger.
Shooting a Kindergarten class. This guy is obviously mentally ill. Can we stop with the gun control for a minute and think about the issues we have with mental illness in this country?Congress should pass comprehensive health care reform legislation that ensures that mental health and psychologists' services are central to primary care and prevention initiatives and that mental health benefits are included in all health insurance plans.That way doctors can see the red flags of mental illness and get treatment for these individuals. To have thoughts of hurting anyone especially children is a mental illness. Capital punishment for someone who is mentally ill does nothing to help other individuals of mental illness. Right now in the US, even if you have insurance, it still costs too much to receive mental or behavioral healthcare. People who have mental illness that don't have behavior/mental healthcare are in a way victims themselves. I don't feel this gunman is a victim I want to make that clear! But this gunman could have maybe been stopped if he had had the treatment he required. Even when he goes to jail. He will not get the treatment he needs. It's a sad issue I know all too well because of my own sons and my mothers mental illness.
He won't get treatment anyway. He's dead.
FACT my heart goes out to the families involved in this. FACT the shooter was only 20 years old. FACT you cannot buy or legally own a handgun until you are 21. FACT the shooter had two illegally owned firearms. FACT gun laws do not work if someone is willing to do violence. FACT we need to change our society and worry less about new laws.
i find it funny that prior to the colombine shooting in 99, we had some of the laxest gun laws. we have had 31 additional school shootings since colombine with an increase in gun control. so you have to ask yourself is gun control working? no it is not, we need to change our society around. our society says the 2 percent is god that cannot be taxed. the 2 percent can commit crimes and wallstreet fraud with no consequences. that our presidents can commit war crimes and get away with it. that war for profit is how we should do business. the moral of our politics have become all assbackwards, so we should not be surprised that we have so many young people in our society that are messed up.
SARAH, go get a job and stop telling us card carrying gun owners what certain guns are for. You libtards fail to realize how many people died at the hands of evil people BEFORE guns. Who did libtards blame back then?? swords?? Lets use libtard logic here, only put the guns in jail, the shooter is a victim in peoples mind like sarahs. Hows europe doing with all their forward thinking sarah ?
"Hows europe doing with all their forward thinking sarah ?"
Their children aren't dying.
Gun control didn't stop the man in China today who stabbed 22 kids in a school.
all those kids lived.
My heart bleeds for the children, dead and alive. my heart bleeds for their parents. It is beyond my comprehension the pain and suffering they will bear throughout their lives. May Gods love be with them thru eternity.
To the pro and anti gun people, your lack of compassion makes me vomit
So making it easier for "bad" guys to have weapons,especially high powered ones would be the answer according to NRA gun nuts. More guns is ALWAYS their answer in NRA world. 2nd amendment rights ALWAYS prevail over a innocents live. Owning guns is the number 1 priority according to the NRA. Americas agent of death.
Why do we have easy access to school buildings, public or not? Our precious children are sitting ducks when a predator or deranged person comes along. Schools need to be locked and security cameras in place. If someone wants entrance they need to be identified and admitted by a security person. Surely the cost of such a system would not be unreasonable. We don't leave the doors to our houses open. Why should a school be left wide open. There is a certain amount of risk when we go out into the world to malls, etc. But innocent children in school should be protected better.
@jhankri
people say that europe doesnt have this problem, so it must be because of gun control. well guess what folks that is a myth. you can buy rifles and hand guns through out most of europe at about the same lvl you can here in the US. they have much better security measures in place in Europe. you can not just walk straight into their schools there to get to the kids.
My heart aches for these people. Obama has no right to even speak to these parents as but for the grace of God these children would not have even had a chance to live before they were born. God bless America and God damn Obama.
Of course the President has the right to speak to the parents, what's wrong with you? What does the President have to do with this horror?
Charlene your a troubled person. Get some help.
The angst, horror and sorrow.
Isn't it amazing the vicious and unrelenting position of gun proponents in this blog.
I would bet that 100% of those people today at that school both with direct experience and the indirect ( parents, police, friends, family ) agree .. "This is horrible example of firearm terrorism on the most innocent segment of our society .. Something must be done"
I would bet 100% ! I wouldn't think any firearm lobbyists would have the balls to approach that subject on site today ... unless they were packin' heat to protect themselves.
Just gearing up for the firearm lobbyists retorts .. just for review :
Guns don't kill children .. people do
if all those kids were armed none of this would happen
The school is too blame for insufficient security
Our 2nd amendment right guarantees our right to protect against crazy people like this.
May God console all those parents, brothers , sisters, faculty .. what a horrible statement on America.
Oh My GOD, this has got to be one of the most HORRIBLE things that has ever happened! I don't know the answer to stop these kind of unprovoked mindless acts... but maybe it's about time schools, especially public schools start providing security... real security with metal detectors plus licensed unmarked security or better yet... cops, that will protect these innocent children. The districts have to get the money from the state to pay for these services. Maybe this will be a good start. I would think a thug would second guess trying it with these measures in place.
America Grieves
This tragedy has devastated the families of those killed by the hands of a very disturbed human being. All we can do is pray for the families and ask God to hold them tightly in His Arms and shower them with His love.
If the media are even the slightest bit responsible, they will not show this person's face or his name. This has to stop.
Cappy - Why don't you take down your picture - you look like a mentally ill person.
It truly is amazing to see people alive today that are allowed to voice an opinion/vote etc making such a rudimentary arguement of "our second ammendment", "guns don't kill people, crazy people do", "we should outlaw cars" etc etc...you guys sound like little kids. Rediculous! If this guy would have had a knife this would not of occured. How many cars do we hear about running down large crowds of people? AND the biggest thing you;re overlooking is NO ONE is even saying outlaw guns you idiots, the arguement is making guns/ammo more able to trace evidence to a crime...its like fricken South Park on here. Their takin our guns...listen to the arguement idiots...AND this second ammendment you guys like to bring up. Do you even know what it says? Try looking it up! It says a WELL REGULATED MALITIA and it was created during the civil war so people could protect their homesteads. Holy craps South Parkers go back to school! They took our guns....Surprises me so many stupid people exist. I got a coworker that says "the price of guns is going to go up if Obamas elected" did they? NO! Will they? NO....just you hypersensitive fear mongers stating your uneducated opinions based on hearsay. "Well I heard it from this guys who heard it from that guy, who's related to someone who says they know. This instance is sickening, these are fricken kids. This tore the hearts out of so many parents. And your comment is quit trying to take our guns. Idiots.
"If this guy would have had a knife this would not of occured." A stabbing did occur in China today... a man went into a school and stabbed 22 people.
I think everyone should be posting sympathy for those affected... not ANY pro/anti-gun comments.
@thatguy
well if you wanted gun control so bad you should have voted for romney. obama is rated an f by the brady institue, while romney is rated an A+ by the brady institute for gun control.
If you insane gun nuts would stop mass murdering children with your guns... Maybe no one would want to take you guns away from you!
How about blaming the evil people for these atrocities? Why do we always want to blame the method of killing, instead of the evil executioner. If he did the deed with a hatchet, a machette, or knife, or even strangled his victims. We would be simply crying for the children. But today we rally against the gun. Again.
I do not own one, I do not even want one. But if I ever did, I sure would like to have the legal right to get one. I know there will be proponents saying how, if someone had one (in a school? not a good idea) then he may have been able to stop this. I think not. But I'm sure some will disagree.
I do know that it was an evil person that did this, not an evil gun.
Guns don't kill people but they make it damn easy. Until we change our culture nothing will change. End of story.
EXACTLY
.
How does someone just walk into a school? No one saw him walking toward the door? No one was at the front door? No one was in the office?
Here teachers know what a lock down is. Anything happens in one area there first thing is to lock the classroom doors. And since class size is regulated you aren't supposed to have more than 16 in a class room. How did 26 get shot?
Of course people will blame this on the gun instead of the person.
I guess these same people blame the explosives instead of the terrorist. I guess airplanes were at fault for 9/11 too. And Hitler didn't invade Poland just the tanks and planes did. And the Japanese didn't attack Pearl Harbor only their planes did.
Your arguments don't hold water. We try to keep explosives away from terrorist and terrorist nations. We should also try to keep automatic weapons away from mentally ill people.