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John Makely / NBC News
Erin Nemeth, 21, and Kelley Sullivan, 21, talk about some of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting and their families on Saturday in Newtown, Conn..
NEWTOWN, Conn. -- A few tears marked Pete Kearney's face as he walked away from a vigil late Saturday near the fire station next to Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Kearney, 47 and the father of two teenagers and a 22-year-old, said he had read out loud the names of every victim of the school massacre to his 17-year-old son earlier Saturday to take in the loss to the community.
“It just felt never-ending … overpowering, overwhelming,” said Kearney, a golf course greenkeeper whose children live with him in Newtown. “It felt real before that, but then, you know, you see the ages and the names … it's just incredible, so sad. I don't think I have the words.”
Kearney said that the release of the names might be a first step in the grieving process, and perhaps "we can start reaching out to some of the victims' families, helping them heal and in that step, help ourselves heal, and move forward, all of us. I guess it's all virgin territory, all of us. No answers here."
Kearney hoped to return later that evening with his daughter to the ongoing vigil, where people were placing flowers, stuffed animals and lighting candles. He choked up at times talking with a reporter about the tragedy that struck their community, noting that one of his children's friends had lost their mother.
“Nobody knows what to do, I think. You light a candle, say a prayer,” he said, his voice trembling as the words trailed off.
At makeshift memorials at the fire station and elsewhere across town, people gathered to mourn, cry, pray and sing.
Friends Kelley Sullivan and Erin Nemeth, both 21, brought 20 Beanie Babies to the fire station in Sandy Hook, where on Friday parents of victims waited to learn their children's fate. Even before the names were released, Nemeth said she knew that a boy and a girl on her block had been killed.
“To me it makes it seem even more surreal” with the release of the names, Nemeth said. “It just doesn't seem like it's real,” she said, shuddering.
The small Connecticut town of Newtown is grieving in the aftermath of Friday's deadly school shootings. NBC's Anne Thompson reports.
“ ... the pictures are going to start coming up and stories of these little kids, and they're just like innocent lives of what they enjoyed to do, and now they won't be able to do anything,” Sullivan said.
“People don't really understand how young these children actually were … most of them born in 2006, which to us does not sound long ago, because it wasn't. And that's when they started their life and it's over already,” she added.
Nemeth said they were supporting the family of a victim “as we can providing meals. … We can't even begin to make these families feel better right now.”
The pair, both from Newtown and friends since the seventh grade, said they each brought 10 of their favorite Beanie Babies to leave at the memorial at the fire station.
The dolls represent “the innocence and the youth of those people who were lost,” said a teary-eyed Sullivan.
Countries that have experienced similar tragedies tonight stand shoulder-to-shoulder with America as it mourns the deaths of 28, most of them young children. NBC's Annabel Roberts reports.
Noel Hernandez said he and his wife Lizbeth came from Shelton, two towns away, to "absorb everything that's going on." They stood in front of a Christmas tree down the street where some had gathered to leave mementos and where small, candle-illuminated decorations had been placed in a memorial on the ground.
As Puerto Ricans, they also were moved by the death of a Puerto Rican girl who was among those killed at the school.
"Trying to make sense of it," said the father of seven. "We always think how would we react if that would happen to ... us?"
At the fire station vigil, he said: "It was ... quiet. You can almost feel what everybody was thinking."
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- Bulldog and owner hope to heal Newtown one hug at a time
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- Video: 'Our hearts are broken,' Obama says
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- 'Screams were coming over the intercom'
- Traumatized nation reels from 'day of sadness and grief'
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- How to talk to kids about the school shooting
- Massacre leaves America shocked and grieving ... again
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Leave a Comment:
Newtown. You are not alone...many stand beside you from your own country and from around the world. Have courage in your darkest of hours we are thinking of you from far away....with the deepest of sympathy to the families and friends of those souls lost. Your anguish has been heard around the world...
The liberal progressive movement is why this shooter did what he did. If
he believed in God, heaven and hell he would not have done this. These
kinds of things never happened when we had prayer in schools. Eternal
damnation in hell is the best consequence to stop all these crazy
millennial progressive half wits and their parents. Chris Mathews of
MSNBC and friends are stupid immature idiots. They continue to believe
in fairy tales.
The news media has to stop talking about this trajedy. I want news not a 24/7 memorial. I'm watching nothing but comedy central and tv land till this story blows over.
I forgot to mention suicides.
Eternal damnation in hell is the best consequence to stop all these suicides. The bible says that suicide is a one way ticket to Hell. Remember this adults? Make your kids believe this. It is also true. Bring back prayer in school now! News stations need to blame lack of christianity instead of guns. These kinds of things never happened when the masses of Americans taught the bible in shcools and about Christ. Burning in Hell for eternity is the best consequence for these types of travesties. Democrat progressive Liberals really screwed up this country, now look at us.
These type of things did too happen.
Instead of guns, they used knives and fists to kill teachers and students; they just didn't have it on national news, and local histories stayed local. Look at all the lynchings that the self-proclaimed Christians did against the blacks, the Asians, the Native Americans, and the whites that they didn't like. A white man was lynched for standing in a union hall instead of being out on the street for a Veteran's Day parade in Centralia, Washington, in 1919. This was murder, plain and simple, by so-called Christian men.
I had prayer in school. The thing I learned about it was that the school teacher told me that I was praying the wrong way, when I was praying the way I'd been taught in church. I learned in church, too, that I could pray anywhere, anytime in my heart and God would hear me. I also learned about mercy and justice and that God is the final judge, and,<b> thankfully, God's name is not ronnie milsap.</b>
ronnie milsap, you are a sociopathic moron. Please do everyone a favour and shut the hell up. You think you're funny trolling this site. Get some help.
Ronnie you are a total moron. You don't know why this happened any more than anyone else does. We need real answers and real solutions, not sound bites against the media or religion. I'm not going to "blow this one off" like all the others and just hope it was another isolated incident. I do want to know what is wrong with the 20 something generation. Maybe it is the lack of religion, but maybe it is something else. i don't know. i do know we need real questions and real answers and fast. If gun control is not the answer or at least part of the answer, then what is? For all the anti gun control folks I ask you the question: WHAT IS THE ANSWER?? if you know everything about gun control then you should know the answer. GIVE US THE ANSWER! and the answer is not: we'll just blow this one off until the next one.
ronnie milsap
Hey ronnie I do not believe in God and I have not killed anyone. Whats your point this kid went to church every Sunday obviously god is broken.
Oh wait yes ronnie if are kids could pray in school this would not happen and that's why they give bibles to prisoners and as you can see it works so well after they read the bible instantly cured...
Calling names here is not the answer to stop these senseless murders either. Everyone has an opinion, and everyone has the same freedom of speech amendment that protects that opinion. If you don't like a post...move on. The old saying "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all" should be used more often than your keyboards.
What makes any of you think you are any better than anyone else on these message boards? And as always, I'm sure I will get bombarded with hate messages because inevitably, some will dislike what I am posting. But at least I'm making a valid point...
"Don't let anyone intimidate you", my dad used to say. Everyone drops their pants to go to the bathroom the same way you do, and everyone's stinks, whether they choose to believe it or not. That makes them no better than you. (bad visual, I know. But it puts your thoughts about others into perspective, doesn't it?)
Calling people names, is breaking a code of honor here. RESPECT EVERYONE. That's another REASON things like this happen. Gun control won't stop it. (and I'm not saying I'm for or against guns, nor am I an NRA member...just a human being with an opinion).
Human morality and respect will help more than gun control.
Some people today look at themselves as gifts to the world, and are taught by their families that they and their feelings are the only things that matter in life. Nail the rest of the world. What do you care? Right? They aren't important. Only you are.
Thank you society, for allowing these monsters to be created. Thank you child protective services, for taking discipline out of upbringing. Thank you, parents, for taking respect, compassion and manners out of your family member's hearts and minds. Thank you for taking God out of American schools, government and homes.
You all have done such a fine job. (sarcasm)
(Quote) "Here's another nice mess you've gotten us into."
Prayers and condolences to the families and friends of the fallen innocence...of the beautiful children and teaching faculty who lost their lives in this tragic and senseless blood shedding massacre.
ronnie milsap......excellent post!...I agree...enough already....
dmatthew3,
Please don't spread hate on here your in the wrong for trying to put your beliefs or lack there of down peoples throats. You don't believe in god thats your right but don't try and make other people follow your path of non-believing that is very wrong of you to do.
On another note.
May god bless these family's and see them thru this very difficult time. Remember God loves you and he is taking care of your loved ones in heaven where they will suffer no more. Once again Satan rears his ugly head and took 20 innocent lives from us.
People need to stop blaming God and blame the one who did this. Satan.
This is going to get more difficult before it gets better. With the details coming out about each child, it is beoming more personal and real. I pray the families will feel the support of everyone across this country. And know so many countless prayers around the world are being said in their behalf.
Im glad your praying just keep praying and praying and praying and praying and it will all go away because praying works as you can see you have prayed so much you might be out of prayers. You religious people are like a broken record I prayed and prayed and it did nothing but make me feel better... thanks for praying Windancersong... Its working..
dmatthews3....could not have said it better....prayer is self-hypnosis....duh
WE mourn with you.
Turn off the news folks...they are only there to make money winding the American public up. Here's a nice pic of Morgan Freeman with a quote the sums it all up ...
regarding what happened yesterday, and what seems to be happening every other day too for that matter:
Morgan Freeman:
"You want to know why. This may sound cynical, but here's why.
It's because of the way the media reports it. Flip on the news and watch how we treat the Batman theater shooter and the Oregon mall shooter like celebrities. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris are household names, but do you know the name of a single victim of Columbine? Disturbed
people who would otherwise just off themselves in their basements see the news and want to top it by doing something worse, and going out in a memorable way. Why a grade school? Why children? Because he'll be remembered as a horrible monster, instead of a sad nobody.
CNN's article says that if the body count "holds up", this will rank as the second deadliest shooting behind Virginia Tech, as if statistics somehow make one shooting worse than another. Then they post a video interview of third-graders for all the details of what they saw and heard while the shootings were happening. Fox News has plastered the killer's face on all their reports for hours. Any articles or news stories yet that focus on the victims and ignore the killer's identity? None that I've seen yet. Because they don't sell. So congratulations, sensationalist media, you've just lit the fire for someone to top this and knock off a day care center or a maternity ward next.
You can help by forgetting you ever read this man's name, and remembering the name of at least one victim. You can help by donating to mental health research instead of pointing to gun control as the problem. You can help by turning off the news."
.......the most horrific scene ever in America!
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And now back to the news coverage of the mass murder of Connecticut children ..............
This is the first time I commented about this. I wanted to take some time and think. Before stating an opinion. I wonder how many people in our society think about what we say. The words and viewpoint of Morgan Freeman are spot on.
We live in a competitive society. Where you are either a so called winner or loser. On so many levels. This really is not about the guns so much. I think it is more about the way we treat each other. This young man was troubled no doubt. And there are countless others in our society who are just as troubled. Maybe getting improving our mental health services in our nation is the answer.
I cannot imagine doing something as horrible as this. Not even close yet I can view these boards and see the same amount of hate in some of the so called sane peoples posts. The best thing each of us can do is to stand up for those who are cast aside. Show some respect for our fellow human beings.And not let terrible things like this, drive us to fear or hate. Tell our families how much we love and care for them. Treat others better than we expect to be treated.
joeyfromcali:
What you want to see in this world is what you will see. The degree of competitiveness you see in society depends on your perception and your own competitiveness. You don't have to care about whether some one calls you a winner or loser or any other name. Why let others define who you are? The world is not all black or white; your success depends not on other people measuring stick. While mean people suck, they don't shoot children. Crazy people do.
Man's inhumanity to fellow man should not come as a shock. History is replete with it. Genocide is a common theme throughout man's history. Concentration camps. Extermination. Ausswitz, Warsaw, Dresden, Hiroshima. Nagasaki. Arbeit macht frei. "We had to destroy a village to save it."
Some people are better at hate than love. Others are born sadist while others, as masochist. External forces seldom drive anyone to hate-and-kill; the hate-and-kill was already there to start with. It just needed a little push. Telling "your families how much we love and care for them" is meaningful only if the recipients are on the same frequency and wave length as you are. Else, it's just back ground noise.
Treat yourself better than you expect to be treated because probably, others are not going to treat you any better. Show respect for those human beings who deserve your respect. If your respect has any value, let them earn it. "The best thing each of us can do is" not "stand up for those who are cast aside, " but stand up for truth, honesty, and fairness. Many of the "cast aside" are ostracized because they are criminals, fraudster, cheater, con artist or just mean people.
HAD this been times of War in the US what would have been the response and comments.. Lots of childless and motherless people in the Iraq and Afghanistan because of Our governments fail attempt to impose its blind ideas of life on another part of the World. Way TOO much aggressiveness and short sightedness on our part.
my heart feels the ache for the families that loss love ones but life only has meaning in the light of death. Something must be there to direct our attention.
Love is the answer and it is free.
Dear God,
I don't understand. How could you let this happen?
Signed, America
Dear America,
You'll have to ask someone else. I have been banned from schools.
Signed, God
Dear America,
God has not been banned from school. Paid ministers have taught this lie, angry that they are not allowed to push their theologies on innocent children who are not of their congregations.
God will hear the prayers of your heart, and see your smiles and count your tears wherever you are. A school teacher is paid with tax dollars, a minister is paid with tithing. Ministers should be teaching children how to pray, and more importantly, parents should be teaching by example.
Signed,
Someone who knows (and here testifies) that God answers prayers
In 2004, God massacred 283,000+ people with an earthquake and tidal wave in Indonesia....
to God...too bad you can't be banned from idiots believing in you....
God don't kill anyone Satan does.
At some point in time, the world's most dangerous species will finally be extinct..........it couldn't happen too soon...."I weep for the human race..."
this is the type of thinking that leads to mass murder,the belief that the human race is chance happening,a mistake and should be extinct! WE are the only life made in God's image! Untill we understand how special we are because of how completelly unique HE is this is just another day on a spinning rock to nowhere!
It is the "how special we are" attitude, that has produced so many of these senseless crimes.
I mourn the death of these precious children so early in life and especially those children who are killed and not even have a chance to live through Connecticut's pro-abortion stance. So who is the murderer ?
I see what you did there..
Geez...you sure snuck in your agenda, didn't you? Why not just take an ad out in the middle of a televised report of the massacre? You'd get more attention that way.
We are connected, my child and I
By an invisible cord, not seen by the eye
It's not like the cord that connects us 'til birth
This cord can't bee seen by anyone on earth
This cord does it work, right from the start
It binds us together, attached to the heart
I know that it's there, though no one can see
The invisible cord, from my child to me
The strength of this cord, it's hard to describe
It can't be destroyed, it can't be denied
It's stronger than any cord, that man can create
It withstands the test, can hold any weight
And though you are gone, though you're not here with me
The cord is still there, but no one can see
It pulls at my heart, I am bruised, I am sore
But this cord is my life-line, as never before
I am thankful that God connects us this way
A mother and child, death can't take it away
Amen. Never having a child, I cry for these families and others.
God does not connect you to anyone, there is a thing called six degrees of seperation look it up it has nothing to do with god... Im glad you have god but tell me when god has helped you..
Live and let live, dmatthews3. If people choose God, it is their right, just as it is your right not to.
In the end, it will only matter to you what you believed on earth.
dmatthews3
I will always have faith in God..But for some strange reason i have no faith in you or Mankind...
Reading names aloud of ones you don't even know will be one of the hardest things you'll ever do and will definitely help with the grieving process. I once volunteered to read the names of Holocaust victims and I could not even get the names of the victims out of my mouth without sobbing. Just imagining what the school victims went through will most likely start the grieving process.
RIP
For you religious people....keep it to yourself.
Believe what you want but leave everyone else alone.
Thank you sir. Im so glad all of you people are praying it does so much good. Just like every body prayed that this would not happen again, remember James Holmes, your praying has helped. How about you get off the pulpit and actually do something that works...
Your god does not work in any way other then to satisfy your personal needs, you can pray to a pop can and get better results..
Just sayin..
I did this exact thing--I wrote down the names, took the list to church with me last night and individually prayed for each new angel and their families (specifically their mommies). When I read the first two I was crying but by the 4th name I felt a calming sense. It felt good to pray for them by name--all 4 times during church that I did so.
Have anyone notice that the majority of the victims were girls? and all the adults were women? Maybe this sicko hated all women?
Guess what I did nothing and got the same results as you did. I felt better in knowing that I do not have to ask someone for help... Im sure you prayed for all the Colorado victims to. please keep your religious believes to yourself..
maybe you should keep your own opinions to yourself!!
I read one headline that said "Christmas Cancelled".
Please, please, please people do NOT
Sorry for the repost, but my computer bugged out on me:
I read one headline that said "Christmas Cancelled"
Please, please, please people, do NOT cancel your Christmas celebrations........don't let them win! Raise up your voices, lift up your hearts.
Try to turn this terrible tragedy into a positive for all of the victims and their families. Hang a picture of everyone of the victims high up on the christmas tree or cut out angels and put the names of the victims on the top of that tree to help them on their way.
Where are all of those "flash crowd dancers"..........How about a "flash walk" through the town starting at the school and visiting each one of the victims homes singing christmas carols like: "angels we have heard on high", "silent night", "O' Holy night", etc.
Please, for the childrens sake, don't let them remember this as the "Christmas that was cancelled because of some nutcase".
My heart goes out to this famly and community. No community, or family should ever face this.
I just read the Westboro Baptist Church announced plans to picket at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT. If they carry out their plan, the residents can expect to see the Westboro Baptist Church at the funerals of the six adults and 20 children murdered by Adam Lanzo.
dmatthews3 -- You may not believe in God and thats a shame for you, we may not can understand
why these things happen and such tragedies like this but GOD is very real and
someday you will know this. The bible says in the end, Every Knee Shall Bow and
that will also be you!! Sometimes prayer and faith are all these people have to
move forward and try to live life as normal as possible and someone like you
trying to make them feel God is not real doesn't do them any favors. If thats
how you believe then thats fine, but dont share you down hearted, sad opinion
with these people who need God and prayer and Faith the most. Please and thank
you!!
Always,
Great post. What people like Matthew fail to realize is that God don't kill anyone. God is good. It is Satan who makes people do this stuff not God. Don't blame God, blame Satan he is the one who told this person to shoot up the school. The voices he was hearing was Satan's demons telling him to do this. So if you all want to blame anyone blame the right spirit and that is Satan.
My thoughts and prayers go out to all who are suffering from this tragedy.
Now for all you gun control folks, it's NOT THE GUNS, IT'S THE NUTS PULLING THE TRIGGER. The guns are fine all by themselves, just sitting there on the shelves in boxes and unloaded. We all know someone in our schools, offices, clubs, neighborhoods etc. "that's a little off", " somewhat weird" "seems strange" or fill in the blanks with your own description. What will YOU do today, tomorrow, next week to try to stop the next mentally ill person from having history repeat itself? Speak up. Tell someone before it's too late. You know who they are. Talk to their co-workers, their parents, their teachers etc. God help us all.
Heather meadows,
Are you the next Nancy Lanza?
Couple points ....
Remember, if a person at the school would of had a carry permit, they could of shot this SOB before he killed all of these innocent people.
Sadly, there is little we can do to completely stop a over the top crazy SOB like this ... it hurts to say this .. but it is true.
There are over 3,000 gun laws in this country already ... and the fact is, no matter how many gun laws you have ... Nuts like this will find guns, just like drug addicts find drugs and drunks find drink.
What will be this murderer's reward be oh its just mentally ill or it gets death. It needs to be giving something that will make anyone else thinking about doing this a reason not to.
This was a terrible, but what is even worse, as that during the last three days using 1998 figures, about 4000 children in this country have died. And NBC will not say a word about it. Why? Because they died due to a mothers so called "right to chose". When this stops, only then will I start believing the left cares about children.
Gun control is not about children, it's about CONTROL. And thats all its about. The same lefties who scream about gun control kill 2000 children every day.
Shame on the liberal media for turning this into a political opportunity for hussein obama.
We do not need the infinate details of how each person was shot, where they were shot and how many times they were shot. Thanks to the MEDIA , this type of information feeds the next unstable person. Most media news reporters go to college and have some sort of degree.. I have to say... SOME reporters ask some really dumb questions when interviewing officials at press conferences/ info releases. Reporters and newscasters PLEASE STOP the detail download you've gone too far ,, restrain yourselves.
As the father of 2 children I can't imagine the intense pain the parents of these innocent victims feel, and no one is more innocent. I stand with the good people of the world to express my sorrow and shock over this tragic incident. There will be many questions raised in response from local to federal agencies. If anyone should actually read this, please don't let this horrible event lead to a witch hunt. Mentally ill people are not monsters. The shooter in this case is also a victim, a victim of his own mind, a victim of mental illness. Our society needs to come out of the dark ages when it comes to mental illness. What needs to be done is careful study and then subsequent action. Unfortunately, there are no quick and easy answers. In a case such as this simple answers come from simple minds.