The task force responsible for deciding the future home of Sandy Hook Elementary School has narrowed it down to two locations.

One is to build a new facility just down the street from the now-vacant Newtown, Conn., elementary school where 20 first graders and six staff members were killed in December.

The second option is to renovate or rebuild at the existing site, which has some of the victims' families upset.

“I will chain my body to it and to protest if they try to reopen it,” Erica Lafferty, the daughter of the late Sandy Hook Principal Dawn Hochsprung, said. “It should be knocked down. There should be some type of long-lasting memorial.“

The task force narrowed the options down from 40 different locations and will hold a public meeting on Friday night to discuss the options and ultimately make a decision.

Veronique Pozner, who lost her son Noah in the Dec. 14 shooting, said she and her husband walked the halls at Sandy Hook Elementary School in February.

“It’s not for everybody, but just like I needed to see my son’s body, I needed to see where he died. That’s me, but I could totally understand why a parent would say I can’t do this," Pozner said.

For Pozner, the school is now "tainted ground." 

“Then again, I also know life has to go on. If that’s the best site logically, economically for the other children, the ones that are alive … Ya know, who am I to say you shouldn’t build there, you shouldn’t rebuild?,” she said.

A 10-year-old boy was shot Wednesday in Chicago toward the end of a day that saw at least three people slain and 20 others wounded, police and local media said.

The boy was standing on North Waller Avenue just before 8 p.m. when a group of men on a nearby street corner began fighting, said Officer Hector Alfaro, a Chicago Police Department spokesman.

During the melee, one of the men pulled out a handgun and opened fire, Alfaro said.

“I’m assuming he was shooting at the other individuals,” he added. “He wasn’t shooting at the child.”

The boy was wounded in the right buttock and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, Alfaro said. No information about his condition was available early Thursday, though Alfaro said he believed the child was “stable.”

Chicago detectives were continuing their investigation Thursday, and no arrests had been made, Alfaro said.

The city’s first 80-degree day in seven months brought a wave of violence, with an average of one per hour at one point, NBCChicago.com reported.

Three cases were fatal, according to NBCChicago.com:

A man in his 30s was found dead in an alley in the 1900 block of South Drake overnight. After midnight, the first murder of May happened in the South Shore neighborhood where a 27-year-old man was shot in the chest near his home at 68th and Cornell. Neighbors said the man was a father of three.

Another shooting happened in front of the University of Illinois-Chicago police station, where three men were struck around 10:40 p.m. A 19- year-old died. Police said he was a known gang member.

The violence came less than a month after the police department announced that crime in the city had fallen 8 percent in the year’s first quarter, compared with the same period a year earlier, and 15 percent from 2011.

Murders fell by 42 percent in the quarter and shootings by 27 percent, the department said in a news release.

The Austin neighborhood, where the boy was shot, however, saw a rise last year in the numbers of murders and shootings, according to police statistics.

The district, one of 77 in the city of 2.7 million, had 26 murders in 2012, up from 19 the year before, and 116 shootings, up from 98.

Slideshow: Shooting at Batman screening in Aurora, Colo.

Karl Gehring / The Denver Post

Twelve people were killed and 58 injured when a gunman opened fire during the premiere of a Batman movie.

Launch slideshow

A newly released document describes gridlock and confusion after the massacre at a Colorado movie theater last summer — bleeding victims swarming emergency vehicles and a traffic jam caused by a crush of police, firefighters and paramedics.

The response was complicated by initial reports of two bombs in the theater and even by a nearby street-paving operation, according to the document, a review by the Aurora, Colo., fire department published Wednesday by The Denver Post.

Almost as many victims were taken to the hospital by police as by ambulances, and police had to drive some victims up a grassy hill behind the theater to get them help, the newspaper reported.

“There’s always lessons to be learned and lessons to be shared,” Aurora Fire Chief Mike Garcia told the newspaper. “I’m so proud of the response of our firefighters.”

Twelve people were killed and 58 injured on July 20, 2012, when a gunman stormed the midnight release of the Batman movie “The Dark Knight Rises.” Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for James Holmes, for whom a judge has entered a not-guilty plea.

Barry Gutierrez / AP file

Tom Sullivan, center, embraces family members outside a high school where he had been searching for his son, Alex Sullivan, who was killed when a gunman opened fire in a Colorado movie theater last summer.

The fire report does not assign blame or even establish missteps in the emergency response. Instead, it describes the terrified disorder that gripped the Century 16 theater complex and its surroundings in the first hour after the shootings:

• Paving on South Sable Boulevard, the main road closest to the theater, cut traffic to one lane, and parking lots outside the theater were packed because it was opening night for an expected blockbuster film.
• 1,400 frantic moviegoers ran from the theater into the parking lot. “I encountered hundreds of people running and screaming for help,” one member of Aurora fire Battalion 1 said. “Many people appeared wounded. Others were just running.”
• The theater itself had only two entry points, and while the first fire engine to arrive used one of them, police quickly blocked both.
• Because of reports that someone was shooting, moviegoers got as far away as they could, and patients wound up in eight places, including a Dillard’s parking lot, some almost 2,000 feet away.

One lieutenant from Aurora fire’s Tower 8 who worked the Dillard’s scene told the review: “Several people were unsure if they had been shot since they were in shock and covered in blood.”

The Aurora police chief and other city officials declined to discuss the shooting, citing a court-imposed gag order. An outside review of the response is on hold because prosecutors worry it could impede their case against Holmes, the newspaper said.

Aurora police did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday from NBC News. An Aurora fire spokeswoman declined comment to NBC News.

This story was originally published on Wed May 1, 2013 9:57 AM EDT

A Tennessee high school student was shot and killed Thursday waiting for the bus to school.

The victim was Johnathan Johnson, 17. His brother told NBC affiliate WSMV in Nashville that he was a good student and basketball player who loved the Boston Celtics.

Police told WSMV that they were seeking a suspect, Eric L. Goodner, also 17. Witnesses told the station that the suspect waited for Johnson on some steps leading to a vacant lot, then walked up to him at the bus stop and shot him.

Both were enrolled at Pearl-Cohn High School in Nashville, but Goodner has not attended since mid-February, WSMV reported. The principal, Sonia Stewart, said that Johnson was friendly and had a bright future.

This story was originally published on Thu Apr 11, 2013 9:22 AM EDT

Prosecutors said Monday that they will seek the death penalty for James Holmes, the man accused of gunning down 12 people and wounding 70 at a Batman movie last summer in Colorado.

George Brauchler, the district attorney for Arapahoe County, said he made the decision after speaking with more than 800 victims and family members.

“It’s my determination and my intention that in this case, for James Eagan Holmes, justice is death,” he said at a hearing.

Brauchler had already rejected an offer from the defense to let Holmes plead guilty and serve a life sentence.

Judge William Sylvester of the Colorado circuit court entered a plea of not guilty for Holmes last month after his lawyers said they were not ready to plead. The judge left the door open for lawyers to mount an insanity defense.

Sylvester on Monday set Holmes’ trial for Feb. 3, 2014, and said it would last about four months. He handed the case to a new judge, Carlos Samour. The trial had originally been scheduled to begin in August.

“This is not an ordinary case. We ask the judge not to rush,” one of Holmes’ lawyers, Tamara Brady, said, answering prosecution claims that the defense has tried to delay the legal process. “This is the most important matter the court will ever hear.”

The two sides in the case fought in public last week. After the defense made its offer, Brauchler said in a filing that Holmes’ lawyers were only trying to generate sympathy for their client.

The only conclusion, the prosecutor wrote, “is that the defendant knows he is guilty, the defense attorneys know he is guilty and that both of them know that he was not criminally insane.”

Brauchler wrote an Op-Ed in The Denver Post over the weekend defending the death penalty. Colorado legislators have considered banning it. He did not name Holmes but wrote of capital punishment as an important tool of justice.

“Repealing the death penalty would result in acts similar to those in Newtown, Conn., or the acts of Tim McVeigh being punished no differently than a single murder of one gang member by another,” the prosecutor wrote. “Each murder after the first would be a freebie.”

Injection is the method for capital punishment in Colorado. The state has executed only one inmate since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in the United States in 1976, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. That execution was in 1997.

R.J. Sangosti / Pool

Aurora theater shooting suspect James Holmes listens at his arraignment March 12.

Holmes’ lawyers have said that jailers determined he was a danger to himself and needed a mental evaluation, and that he was held for several days in a psychiatric ward, sometimes in restraints.

He surrendered to police within minutes of the July 12 shooting rampage at a midnight screening of the movie “The Dark Knight Rises” in Aurora, Colo., a suburb of Denver.

At his first court appearance, Holmes had stark, red-orange hair and wore a blank stare. He has since appeared more stable and natural-looking. He showed up in court last month with a bushy beard.

The hearing Monday was set to begin at 11 a.m. EDT. Legal observers have pointed out that the two sides could still reach a plea deal later, even as prosecutors seek to put Holmes to death.

NBC News producer John Boxley, Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

This story was originally published on Mon Apr 1, 2013 8:17 AM EDT

The mother of the man suspected of gunning down the top prisons official in Colorado says her son was a compassionate child who “drifted into a dark period” after the death of his 16-year-old sister.

Jody Mangue wrote that her son, Evan Ebel, adored animals and walked up to the mentally ill in restaurants to engage them in conversation.

“He was full of energy, was funny and lit up a room,” she wrote in a posting on a website dedicated to the memory of the sister, Marin Ebel, who was killed in a car crash in January 2004.

Ebel, 28, is a suspect in the shooting death of Tom Clements, the head of the Colorado Department of Corrections, who was killed last Tuesday when he opened the front door of his home.

Ebel was killed Thursday after a wild chase and gunfight with sheriff’s deputies in Texas. He is also suspected in the killing of a Domino’s pizza delivery man outside Denver on March 17.

Mangue wrote that her son was already struggling before his sister’s death, but that the loss “threw him over the edge.”

“His life deteriorated after that and he just became numb and lost his direction altogether,” she wrote. In the posting, she thanked friends and strangers who have offered her support since last week.

The Denver Post reported over the weekend that Ebel’s documented decline began in October 2003, when he pointed a gun at the head of an acquaintance and demanded cash.

In the spring of 2004, police told the newspaper, Ebel carjacked a stranger, pointed a gun at a woman and accidentally shot himself in two separate incidents, once in the stomach and once in the leg.

He was sentenced to eight years in prison after pleading guilty in the carjacking case and was paroled in January of this year.

Colorado Department of Corrections / Reuters

Evan Spencer Ebel in an undated Colorado booking photo.

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, a friend of Ebel’s father, told CNN on Sunday that the suspect always “just seemed to have this bad streak, a streak of cruelty and anger.”

Law enforcement officials have said Ebel was involved with a white supremacist prison gang, the 211 Crew, which outside groups say demands that some of its members commit crimes once they leave prison.

Mangue wrote that her son was his own person, not a follower.

Despite having been linked to white supremacists, she wrote, “most white people in prison are automatically put in that category and sometimes forced to say they are even when they are not.”

Reuters contributed to this report.

Related:

Suspect in Colorado killing had a ‘bad, bad streak’

Colorado governor knew family of man eyed in prison chief slaying

This story was originally published on Mon Mar 25, 2013 11:48 AM EDT

Police in upstate New York early Thursday remained in a tense standoff with a man suspected of killing four people and injuring two more, according to authorities.

New York State Police believe Kurt R. Myers, 64, is holed-up in an abandoned building in Herkimer, N.Y., after going on a shooting spree at a local car wash and barber shop.

The Utica, N.Y., Observer-Dispatch reported that loud bangs, alarms and a PA system were heard about 1:30 a.m. ET on Thursday at the site where Myers is believed to have barricaded himself.

The newspaper said a police robot had been sent into the building and that tactical units could been seen going in and out of the former bar. Floodlights remained pointed at the former bar, and police could be heard on a PA system asking for a peaceful surrender, the paper said. NBC News could not immediately confirm the report.

Troopers exchanged gunfire with the suspect when they first arrived at the scene of the now-abandoned sports bar, superintendent of New York State Police Jospeh D’Amico told reporters at a press conference Wednesday evening.

No officers were hurt, but police have so far had no success in communicating with Myers.

NY State Police

Police believe Kurt R. Myers, 64, shot four people on Wednesday.

Authorities believe that before his rampage, Myers set his residence on fire in Mohawk, N.Y., a small town between that lies roughly halfway between Syracuse and Albany.

From there, Myers is believed to have gone to John’s Barber Shop at about 9:30 a.m. ET, and shot four people, killing two of them, cops said.

"Totally unprovoked, we believe he fired a number of rounds from the shotgun," D'Amico said.

He then allegedly went to Gaffney’s Car Wash in the neighboring town of Herkimer and killed two more people before driving off to the abandoned bar where police believe he currently is in hiding.

“This is truly an inexplicable situation. There was no apparent rationale motive to the best of our knowledge at this time to provoke these attacks,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said at the press conference.

State Police identified the victims who died in the barber shop shooting as Harry Montgomery, 68, of Mohawk, and Michael Ransear, 57, of Herkimer. Killed at the car wash were Thomas Stefka, an employee in his 60s, and Michael Renshaw, a man State Police said was in his 40s and is a 20-year-veteran of the Department of Corrections.

Myers only other known criminal history was a 1973 arrest for driving while intoxicated. A number of guns and ammunition were found in his residence, according to Cuomo.

The areas around the standoff have been evacuated, and D’Amico said police are prepared to be hunkered down for the long hall.

James Baron, Mohawk's 29-year-old mayor, said he doesn't know Myers but knew several of the people who were shot, including "at least" two of the barber shop victims.

The mayor described his town of 2,700 people as close-knit and friendly, "the kind of place where you'd say, 'Oh, it would never happen here.'"

Cuomo echoed those sentiments in front of reporters, noting, “This is just another example that there is no community that is beyond the scope of senseless gun violence, and unfortunately we see this more and more and more.”

Michele Mlinar, a bartender in Herkimer, told the Observer-Dispatch that Myers was a regular at The Cangees Bar and Grill where she works.

"When I saw his picture, I just got sick to my stomach,” she told the paper, adding that Myers was nice to staff but always “very jittery and nervous.”

“It could have been here. It could have been us,” she said. 

NBC News' John Newland contributed to this report.

AP Photo/Mike Groll

Law enforcement officers walk along Main Street in Herkimer, N.Y., while searching for a suspect in two shootings that killed four and injured at least two on Wednesday.

This story was originally published on Wed Mar 13, 2013 11:21 AM EDT

Handout / Reuters

A frame grab from KNBC4 TV aerial footage shows smoke and fire from a cabin where fugitive former Los Angeles police officer Christopher Dorner is believed to be barricaded in Big Bear, California February 12, 2013. Dorner exchanged gunfire on Tuesday with San Bernardino County sheriff's deputies in the mountains northeast of Los Angeles after he broke into a home, tied up a couple and stole their pickup truck, authorities said.

Investigators discovered charred human remains late Tuesday within a torched California mountain cabin where police sources say ex-cop Christopher Dorner barricaded himself after a deadly shootout with sheriff’s deputies.

In a statement, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department said that identification would be attempted "through forensic means."

Earlier, San Bernardino Sheriff’s spokeswoman Cindy Bachman said authorities believed the suspect was still inside the cabin when the inferno began.

The hulking former lawman declared war on the LAPD in an online manifesto because he was fired four years ago. Accused of killing three people between Feb. 3 and Feb. 7, he was the target of the biggest manhunt in Los Angeles history.

A day of dramatic and tragic developments began after police received a report around 12:22 p.m. Tuesday that someone fitting Dorner’s description had stolen a car from a home near the ski resort area of Big Bear, police said.

The car owner told NBCLosAngeles.com that a man who looked like Dorner came up to him with a rifle and demanded his pickup, and let him take his dogs out of the back before he fled.

A ground and air search ensued, and authorities located the pickup on Highway 38.

A spokesman for the California Department of Fish and Game said one of its wardens was the “very first person to spot Mr. Dorner … They both got out of the vehicles and exchanged gunfire.”

Check out more coverage on NBCLosAngeles.com

The warden’s truck was riddled with bullets but he was not hurt, agency spokesman Andrew Hughan told NBCLosAngeles.com.

Dorner, who was already wanted for three slayings linked to a revenge-fueled rampage, “fled into the forest and barricaded himself inside a cabin,” the San Bernardino Sheriff’s office said in a statement.  “A short time later there was an exchange of gunfire between law enforcement and the suspect.”

Two deputies were shot and taken to Loma Linda University Medical Center, where Sheriff John McMahon later confirmed one had died and one was in surgery. Their names were not released.

No more shots were fired from inside the cabin in Angelus Oaks before police demanded Dorner surrender and began preparing to storm the structure, a sheriff’s spokeswoman said.

A source close to the probe told NBCLosAngeles.com that deputies broke the cabin windows, fired tear gas inside and began breaking down walls with an armored personnel carrier.

The deputies then heard a single gunshot, and soon after flames and smoke could be seen, the source said.

Shortly before 7 p.m. local time, Villaraigosa told Telemundo "it's over," but declined to elaborate.

Hundreds of investigators had spent a week searching for Dorner, who is accused of killing a retired captain’s daughter and her fiancé on Feb. 3 and a police officer on Feb. 7.

His burned-out truck, a Nissan Titan, was found in Big Bear last week and scores of officers have been combing the mountain, going door-to-door to see if they could find signs of forced entry.

At an afternoon press conference, LAPD commander Smith had a message for Dorner: “Enough is enough. It’s time to turn yourself in.”

“Everyone is very hopeful that this thing ends without any further bloodshed,” Smith said. “The best thing for him now would be to surrender … and he can face the criminal justice system.”

Dorner, an ex-cop and Navy reservist detailed his plans and hit list in an online manifesto — a 11,000-word declaration of war against the LAPD in which he makes it clear he would not be taken alive.

“Self Preservation is no longer important to me,” he wrote. “I do not fear death as I died long ago on 1/2/09.”

That’s the date that Dorner got his walking papers from the LAPD after being fired for making a false statement about an officer he accused of brutalizing a suspect.

Police say Dorner exacted revenge on the lawyer who represented him at the internal review, retired captain Randy Quan, by gunning down his daughter, Monica Quan, 28, and her boyfriend, Keith Lawrence, 27, in their car as they returned home to Irvine, Calif., after the Super Bowl.

Four days later, authorities said, Dorner ambushed police officers who were guarding other potential targets in Riverside and Corona, Calif., killing one of them.

LAPD officials said earlier Tuesday they were sifting through 1,000 clues and, including a video that may show the suspect stocking up on scuba gear before the killing spree.

Police confirmed they were even looking into the possibility Dorner had fled to Mexico — the destination he mentioned when he tried to steal a boat in San Diego last Wednesday.

Among the newest leads, a video that was posted on TMZ that appears to show Dorner purchasing scuba equipment at Sport Chalet in Torrance, Calif., on Feb. 1. Neiman said police had not nailed down if it was Dorner and could not say why he would be buying underwater gear.

A criminal complaint filed in federal court last week also revealed that investigators have been tracking an associate of Dorner — someone with the initials J.Y. — whose family has property not far from where Dorner's vehicle was abandoned and torched.

“We will leave no stone unturned to find out if someone was assisting this man in his terrible crimes and eluding capture,” Smith said.

This story was originally published on Tue Feb 12, 2013 6:37 PM EST