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David Friedman / NBC News
Easton police officer J. Sollazzo greets parents and students returning to Hawley Elementary School on Tuesday in Newtown, Conn.
Hearts were heavy and security was tight as thousands of children in Newtown, Conn., returned to school Tuesday for the first time since a gunman killed 20 students and six staff at Sandy Hook Elementary.
It was a tiny glimmer of normalcy in a town that was also burying two more youngsters, but officials made it clear this was no ordinary school day.
“This is a day to start healing,” Newtown High School Principal Charles Dumais wrote in an e-mail to parents before six schools opened two hours later than usual, with police officers and counselors on hand.
Sandy Hook, where a rifle-toting Adam Lanza turned two classrooms into a shooting gallery on Friday, remains a crime scene, with no indication if its 600 students will ever return to the building. Preparations are being made for them to use a school building in a neighboring town in the interim.
At Hawley Elementary, Keith Muckell said he felt “deep sadness” as he dropped off his 8-year-old daughter, Shannon, but he knew he couldn’t keep her “in a bubble.”
“I told her I loved her, kissed her, told the teacher to just take care of these guys. And he was like, ‘We got it,’” Muckell said.
More victims of the mass shooting last week at Sandy Hook Elementary school in Newtown, Conn., will be laid to rest Tuesday. Meanwhile, more details emerge about the gunman. TODAY's Natalie Morales reports.
He said that as Newtown’s children head back to school, he hopes the nation learns a gun-control lesson from the horrific tragedy that rocked the quiet bedroom community.
“I just hope that this is sort of a tipping point in some way to really do something meaningful," he said. "I am a hunter, a bow hunter just so you know, but I can't imagine why anybody would want these assault rifles. It just doesn't seem to me to make any sense."
Newtown High School senior P.J. Hickey told The Associated Press that being with friends would help him cope with the tragedy. He said there were would be “no joy” in school – but also, at least for him, no fear.
Boy died in arms of his favorite teacher
“This is where I feel most at home,” he said. “I feel safer here than anywhere else in the world.”
Newtown Police Lt. George Sinko said the town prepared for “a lot of apprehension” from parents.
"We just had a horrific tragedy. We had babies sent to school that should be safe and they weren't," Sinko said. "You can't help but think ... if this could happen again."
Even as schools were reopening, two more kids -- 6-year-olds Jessica Rekos and James Mattioli -- were being laid to rest.
Wakes also were scheduled Tuesday for Charlotte Bacon and Daniel Barden and for teacher Victoria Soto, 27, hailed as a hero for shielding her students in a closet.
Funeral directors from throughout Connecticut have come forward to help the grieving town, another example of support that's so desperately needed. NBC's Anne Thompson reports.
On Monday, the first two funerals for shooting victims were held, with Noah Pozner and Jack Pinto, both 6, laid to rest in tiny coffins.
Pinto so idolized New York Giants receiver Victor Cruz that he was buried in his jersey. Cruz visited the Pinto home on Tuesday and tweeted in the afternoon: "Much love to the entire Pinto family. Great people with huge hearts. I'm sorry again for your loss. Looking at life through a different lens "
The slain children’s parents have been releasing statements praising school staffers and emergency responders.
Full coverage: Tragedy at Sandy Hook
The family of 6-year-old Dylan Hockley, a special needs student, said they chose Newtown for its excellent schools and “shall never regret this choice.”
“Dylan's teacher, Vicki Soto, was warm and funny and Dylan loved her dearly. We take great comfort in knowing that Dylan was not alone when he died, but was wrapped in the arms of his amazing aide, Anne Marie Murphy,” they added.
The father of Emilie Parker, 6, said he hoped her memory would inspire Americans to do good.
“Remember these beautiful children; keep them close to our hearts. Do not let their bright shining faces become extinguished,” he wrote.
Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy has called for a moment of silence on Friday at 9:30 a.m., exactly one week after massacre, one of the deadliest school schootings in U.S. history. Twenty-six church bells would be rung, one for each life lost.
David Friedman / NBC News
A nation mourns after the second deadliest school shooting in U.S. history at Sandy Hook Elementary, which left 20 children and six staff members dead.
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The best solution to protect our children is to make them all wear school-issued bulletproof vests.
- Herb Meinken, CEO Flak Vest, Inc.
LMAO! Well while we are at it - lets add - bullet proof helmets, knee pads, pants, gloves and shoes. Lets see, did I leave any body part exposed? No - I think I got it! That will only add about another 20 or so pounds to them! At least they will have full body protection - they may walk about 2 miles an hour - but at least they are bullet proof!
Just as I speculated it was confirmed to me yesterday that Mr. Larva was a video gamer and spent many hours locked in his room playing violent video games (killing simulators), twisting his already twisted mine. I used to love video games but the realistic killing simulator type games have to go. To many weak minded people are being influenced by these tasteless games.
So, you give him guns knowing he has mental problems? Many people watch the Texas Chain Saw Massacre, me, but I don't feel the urge to kill and eat folks.
Wallace
are u weak minded ?
I'll say it again.. It's his mother's fault if the kid was mentally handicapped she was the one to make sure he had what he needed and didn't have what he shouldnt
OK she's dead so now what.
Too bad most of the posters on this site don't want to have an adult conversation on the issues, but resort to name calling and labeling the NRA as terrorits and non human. There are alot of privately owned semi automatic weapons in the USA, probably approaching over 100,000,000. What happened in Newtown is a) the mother failed to lock-up her weapons and b) her mentally ill son did not receive the help he needed and c) the mother allowed her son to be socially isolated and distort his reality by playing violent video games. It was a perfect storm: a mentally deranged individual with access to weapons. I have a gun safe that can only open with my fingerprint. It costs $3,000 but this mother could of easily afforded it. So banning guns will not solve the problem. I agree with banning large ammo clips and having penalties for not properly storing weapons.
I agree it won't solve the problem. It's putting a band-aid over the real issues of parenting and personal responsibility. However, if the gov feels the burden to do something about it, there is no way the feds can legislate parenting and personal responsibility effectively to the masses and quite frankly they shouldn't. The feds can legislate gun control which can potentially reduce the number of casualties and save more lives. I would take a look at gun related violence in similar industrialized countries as ours and see where we stand per capita and compare differences and similarities in policies.
OK. Go ahead, go full steam ahead in gun control. Take all guns away. It won’t stop white guys from committing acts of domestic terrorism.
What will replace guns? IEDs/Improvised Explosive Device (white guys love pyrotechnics....blowing things up), Sarin gas in the air supply, cyanide in water supply, etc.
The only way to control gun violence and these mass killings is to control white guys.
A large porportion of gun homicides are commited between friends and neighbors in a heated moment. I doubt thes people would pause to procure Sarin gas.
Yeah, feel the same about fast and furious. Heck, guns dont kill border guards...they would have killed him anyway with a stick, right?
Oh! Law enforcement looks great in the nicely tailored and pressed uniforms (all white people), bright and shinny badges and medals. Very intimidating to a criminal......or a minority minding his/her own business. This look makes the predominately white neighborhoods feel safe.
The sad thing about law enforcement is they don't prevent crimes. They don't prevent a d a m n thing.
They show up after a crime has been committed. After people are already dead.Then they show up with high powered weapons, men in S W A T uniforms, and police dogs. This is a joke.
They are not competent enough to identify crimes or criminals before an incident happens.
They are only concerned about locking up minorities, especially black people, while white guys are free to commit crimes without fear of repercussions.
The clincher is, when you call them to a bad neighborhood, most take 30 minutes to an hour to show up. What a bunch of p u s s i e s.
Seriously. You all expect a predominately white law enforcement to investigate white guys?
totally agree, start a movement to get a police officer assigned to every elementary school,,,,protect instead of respond,,,,plain and simple
Hey LARRY-NC-2418660,you must be a black person(racist,at the least)who has pictures of Jesse Jackson all over your section 8 housing appartment.So you want the white police officers in S.W.A.T.uniforms to show up before the shooting happen?I didnt know black police officers had that ability,knowing when crime was going to happen before it happens.I would bet the white skin on my body you have been in jail for many crimes.
No one knows when a crime will happen before it happens - not even the fake wizard in the sky that the religious idiots pray and run to all the time! LMAO!
Said one idiot to another.....
As others have pointed out, I think the answer has to be threefold:
* address the gun culture promulgated by Hollywood
* address mental health issues
* strickter gun control (which has been shown to work)
I think that responsible gun owners (I believe most of them are responsible) should lead the charge in implementing common sense gun control laws that allows them to remain gun owners while reducing the carnage. I think they should be up in arms (pun intended) by the irresponsiblity of the NRA an others in preventing even the most most common sense controls from being implemented. They are the ones that give guns a bad name.
'Honey ... I'm Not Talking to You Anymore'
Larry..............you are a Idiot!!
Infallible - sanctimonious - omniscient comments accomplish nothing! The headline, "A day to start healing" is empathy at its best, but erroneous in context. Not all things can be simply fixed, cured or smoothed over. "President Obama met with advisers to discuss ways to respond...plans to curb violence...not limited to gun control measures" is pragmatic, but all the brainstorming in the world won't resolve the heartless issues of humanity's brokenness. These problems started even before the 1st days when Columbus discovered the Americas, the Catholic conquistadors plundered South America, the Christian pilgrims came ashore committing genocide; way before, the new world continents were spoilt of beautiful paradises - reduced to divided fenced partials of septic waste lands - plastered with high-rise concrete jungles; even before blatant environmental abuse, even before the accompanying political corruption and social injustices. Depraved minds have been the norm not the exception for a very long time. There are no rubber stamp cures, no president decrees, or no social outcries with enough gumption to overcome the deep rooted systemic evils that prevail acceptable contemporary lifestyles. Simple stated, the historical time has come for man to face what civilization can't remember - Noah and Lot size epidemics. The only cure is polar shift.
I truly do not think the Press should be posting pictures of these tiny caskets. The parents need to grieve in peace. We have invaded them enough. LEAVE THEM ALONE. Let them grieve. Stop hounding them for comments to see how they are managing and feeling. Let them be in peace on these days.
its time for the news people to get the heck out of town and leave the kids alone! if that was my child looking out the school bus window, person taking the picture would be looking for an ice pack.
I would like to reiterate what I said on another post. This shooting DID NOT HAPPEN. It was nothing but government/media propaganda. The government wants to disarm Americans--it wants gun control. This was nothing more than an elaborate psyop. Yes, your government IS lying to you. That's what it does, sadly.
Watch these videos:
Okay, this system will not allow me to post urls to videos, so here are the titles. You can access them at Dave J (previously known as Apostle Dave) on YouTube. Copy and paste the titles into the YouTube search slot.
Here is one of them: Skunk at the "Pity party", the school "shooting" is a hoax/drill 12/14...
Here is another: Welcome the Family Known as the "Bullcrap's" (sandy-hook HOAX!)
Holy crap. Did you think about that sentence before you published it? I don't believe the victims families would like to think of their loved ones as an object in a shooting gallery.
That was what happened
That is what they were - objects like at a shooting gallery! What is wrong with it?
Bottom line is you will never get the gun lobby who makes a lot of money selling guns to capitulate on any gun restrictions. So, best get in a defensive mode.
We already search folks on planes, football games, and even the Republicans ban guns from their conventions and have armed guards.
Schools should have armed guards posted as well as shopping centers. Trained folks, not teachers.
Every classroom should have a safe room for retreat, bullet proof which can double as a tornado shelter.
Homes should have safe rooms.
Glenn Beck has a safe room and bullet proof car and several body guards. You did not think old mister live your life normal actually would live his life normal, did you?
Keep your kids away from gun freaks. Like the guy in Indiana with 150 in his house. Also, remember most gun owners are as stupid as the woman who left guns out so her mentally ill son could get them.
Don't think most gun owners know anything about their weapons either. A guy left a gun store the other day, pulled out his 9mm clip and squeezed the trigger killing his 9 year old son. Oops one in chamber.
Who will pay for the mental heath services the right wants offered? Remember, health care is not a right.
Sell more guns to the Mexican cartel, afterall, guns wont kill agents. They would kill agents anyway with a knife or club , so why restrict guns to criminals?
Ok libs, here's what you do. First tell all your "progressive" Hollywood friends to stop glorifying gun violence in their movies and TV shows. Then get all the makers of violent video games (which is almost all of them) to stop selling them. How many of you libs play call of duty or any of the other killing games? (You do know that you become what you train for, right?) Then you get all the media to stop using tragedy and violence to sell cookies.
Guns are no more violent than cars. You can do unspeakable harm with both. Culture is the problem. Can you not see that?
Yet another retard, too stupid to see the difference.
Gun control is coming, in one form or another, and I'll be dancing to the sound of you bitching and whining all the way. ;-)
PLEASE: everyone that reads this, call your senators, congressman and etc. radio stations tv stations etc.
HAVE THEM TAKE A POLICE OFFICER OFF TRAFFIC AND ASSIGN THEM TO AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
1. WILL MAKE ALL PARENTS AND KIDS FEEL SAFE
2. WILL PUT OUR POLICE, THAT WE ARE PAYING FOR NOW, PROTECTING OUR CHILDREN UNTIL THE POLOTICIANS FIGURE OUT A BETTER WAY
Cops are already under staffed. Putting them in schools gives the appearance of safety and that is it. If someone wants to kill a group of people he/she will do it. It does not matter what obstacles that might be in their way.
Hey SALmONELLA,why dont we just make them wear riot helmets and camouflage,and have smoke granades for escape as well.Or maybe just have a simple armed security guard walk the halls,like they have in banks and other schools,and never have this kind of problem.
Like I heard yesterday and I agree with completely.
A person's right to live outside the womb, including our children in school, is MORE IMPORTANT than a person's right to own guns.
READ the constitution: a well regulated militia NOT EVERYBODY. Our militia in the 21st century is the military, the national guard and law enforcement. That's it!!!!!!
OMGosh!!! This is NOT still on the front page!!! This needs to be put to rest ASAP - enough of it already! It is over and done with! Yes, it was horrible, mean, hateful, or whatever other adjective you wish to use - but LETS MOVE ON FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!
Everyone in the US has panicked to the zillionth degree over this issue - send the little brats back to school and get them back to their normal non-learning routine! Everybody will now want to carry a gun - even the local mutt! Well break out the wild wild west - but lets get rid of this story!
You can hate on me all you want - I really don't care!
Seqdirb...............send the little brats back to school and get them back to their normal non-learning routine
Moronic selection of words from you inept ability to show empathy and compassion as the world weeps.
The words are just fine! We already know our schools rate a "D" or below in learning and progress. It is what it is! Enough weeping - your eyes should be swollen shut by now!
I agree with you Kat.
Edgy indeed. People from places like Newtown , a fairly nice inwards city in Connecticut with enough social distancing from New York City, would have more expected something like this to happen in a seaboard slumtown like Bridgeport or Stamford.
All we can do is pray for the children, parents, teachers, and everyone associated with the Sandy Hook school. Grieving and healing will be a long process that will require them to take one day at a time in order to cope with this horrific episode in their lives.
All I saw in law enforcement at the scene were a bunch of overweight white people. Obviously from sitting on their -a s s e s - all day eating croissants.
And you all expect a predominantly white law enforcement to investigate white guys?
Don’t hold your breath. They are too busy harassing innocent minorities minding their own business. You know, to make white people feel safe.
Come to think of it, the gunmen in the latest spate of mass shootings have all been white.