I'm sure all of you know about this but for the ones who don't:

A gunman killed 26 people, 20 of them children between ages 5 and 10, in a shooting on Friday morning at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., about 65 miles northeast of New York City, the authorities said.

 

 

The gunman, who was believed to be in his 20s, walked into a classroom at Sandy Hook Elementary School, where his mother was a teacher. He shot and killed her and then killed 20 students, most in the same classroom. He also fatally shot five other adults, and then killed himself inside the school. One person was also injured in the shooting.

Another body related to the shooting was at another scene, the authorities said, declining to provide more specifics.

A law enforcement official identified the shooter as Adam Lanza and said that a brother, Ryan Lanza, had been questioned.

The mass shooting is among the worst in the nation’s history.

“The majority of those who died today were children, beautiful little kids between the ages of 5 and 10 years old,” a visibly distraught President Obama said in remarks televised nationally.

After pausing to compose himself for perhaps five long seconds, Mr. Obama said, “They had their entire lives ahead of them: birthdays, graduations, weddings, kids of their own.”

Then the president wiped the corner of his eye.

Some witnesses described a harrowing scene inside the school with the sounds of gunfire followed by sounds of screams as terrified students and staff members hid in classrooms, closets or wherever they could quickly take shelter.

One 9-year-old student said he was in the gym when the shooting erupted.

“We were in the gym, and I heard really loud bangs,” said the boy, as he stood shivering and weeping outside the school with his father’s arms draped around him. “We thought that someone was knocking something over. And we heard yelling, and we heard gunshots. We heard lots of gunshots. We heard someone say, ‘Put your hands up.’ I heard, ‘Don’t shoot.’

“We had to go into the closet in the gym. Then someone came and told us to run down the hallway. There were police at every door. There were lots of people crying and screaming.”

Yvonne Cech, a school librarian, said she along with two library clerks, a library catalog assistant and 18 fourth graders spent 45 minutes locked in a closet during the shootings. "The SWAT team escorted us out," she said, and then all 18 children were reunited with their parents.

Another student at the school told an NBC station in Connecticut: “I was in the gym and I heard like seven loud booms, and the gym teachers told us to go in the corner and we huddled. We all heard these booming noises, and we started crying. So the gym teachers told us to go into the office where no one could find us. Then a police officer told us to run outside.”

The State Police said the Newtown police called them shortly after 9:30 a.m., said Lt. J. Paul Vance of the State Police. “On- and off-duty troopers responded to the school and with Newtown police immediately upon arrival entered the school and began an active shooter search,” Lieutenant Vance said.

Eighteen of the students were pronounced dead at the school, and two others were taken to hospitals where they were declared dead. All the adults shot at the school were pronounced dead at the scene.

Law enforcement officials said the weapons used by the gunman were a Sig Sauer and a Glock. In addition to the two handguns, the police also found an M4 carbine at the scene that they believe belonged to the gunman.

Meredith Artley, the managing editor of CNN.com, said someone who works at the school told her the shooting happened in the hallway. “She described it as a ‘Pop, pop, pop,'” Ms. Artley said. “She said three people went out into the hall and only one person came back, the vice principal, she said, who was shot in the leg or the foot, who came crawling back. She cowered under the table and called 911. There must have been a hundred rounds.”

 

As news of the shooting spread, frantic family members descended on the scene and were taken to a nearby fire house where teachers and students who had been evacuated from the school had been taken by the authorities. Some clergy members were also at the fire house.

 

 

“The teachers wrote down the names of all the children,'’ said Monsignor. Robert Weiss, the pastor at St. Rose of Lima in Newtown. “The ones who were unaccounted for, those parents went to another room and wrote their names on a list.”

“It was around, obviously,” he added, “the number that passed away.”

Another clergy member at the fire house, Rabbi Sholom Deitsch of Chabbad Jewish Center in Ridgefield, Conn., said: “I see a lot of fear and disbelief in peoples eyes. It’s a very difficult scene, one I’ve never seen in my life.”

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy of Connecticut, who was at the scene of the shooting comforting relatives of victims, called the killings a “tragedy of unspeakable terms.”

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York, who has been a vocal advocate for gun control in the United States, issued an exasperated statement criticizing national leaders for failing to do more to stop gun violence.

“We have heard all the rhetoric before,” he said. “What we have not seen is leadership – not from the White House and not from Congress.”

Mr. Bloomberg waited to issue his statement until after Mr. Obama spoke, hoping that he would hear something more specific on gun control. But he did not.

“President Obama rightly sent his heartfelt condolences to the families in Newtown,” Mr. Bloomberg said. “But the country needs him to send a bill to Congress to fix this problem. Calling for ‘meaningful action’ is not enough. We need immediate action.”

The school, located among wooded hills and suburban tracts in Fairfield County, 12 miles east of Danbury, serves kindergarten through fourth grade. The school has about 700 students.

“It’s just a little country school,” said Robert Place, 65, as he stood near the scene. “The look is very ′50s or ′60s. One floor. It’s always had a good reputation. People come to Newtown for the schools.”

Lillian Bittman, a former chairwoman of the Newtown Board of Education, has three children who attended Sandy Hook.

“It’s a place that feels like my house, a place that feels like my home,'’ she said. “It’s as if he walked into my house and did this. I’m not alone in feeling this. Everyone I talked to feels that way. When people left Sandy Hook, when they aged out, they were sad. They were sad their kids wouldn’t be part of that community.”

The school’s principal, Dawn Hochsprung, was reportedly one of those shot. But at the home of her daughter Cristina Hassinger, in Oakville, Conn., the family was still awaiting any news of her fate.

“We’re looking for any hope,” said Ryan Hassinger, the son-in-law of the principal.

“I looked on Twitter and it says that she is passed,” Mr. Hassinger said. But, he added, the family was “just waiting.”

Mr. Obama was briefed on the shooting at 10:30 a.m., the White House said.

“We’ve endured too many of these tragedies in these past few years, and each time I learn the news I react not as a president but as anyone else would as a parent and that was especially true today,” Mr. Obama said on Friday afternoon. “I know there’s not a parent in America who doesn’t feel the same overwhelming grief that I do.”

Maureen Kerins, a hospital nurse who lives close to the school, learned of the shooting from the television and hurried to the school to see if she could help. “I stood outside waiting to go in, but a police officer came out and said they didn't need any nurses so I knew it wasn’t good,” Ms. Kerins said.

In front of a senior center next door to the school, a 20-year-old woman was with her 4-year-old sister, who was in the school at the time of the shooting. The older woman came to pick up her younger sister along with their mother. The girl had her arms and legs wrapped around her older sister.

When a reporter asked the woman what the little girl knew of what had happened, the woman said, “Absolutely nothing, and we don’t plan to tell her anything.”

 

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/15/nyregion/shooting-reported-at-connecticut-elementary-school.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0

 

 

I heard this on the radio on the way to school, and decided to read about what actually happened since I was confused on the situation. Now...im gonna go cry. I feel so bad for the kids who have died, the mother who died and the other adults or kids who were victims and killed as well. ;~;

This is my first time hearing about this and OMG I'm crying ;~;

 

Why would any human being barge into an Elementary school and murder innocent children and teachers?! That is very sickening and I hope to those who lost their loved ones are doing ok after all that misery.

 

 

 

 

...BRB gonna sob some more ;-;

Edited December 14, 201212 yr by Silent Maiden

I've cried myself .This is so incredibly sad and shocking . May our best wishes, thoughts , and prayers be with the families of all the victims .Many were just small kids looking forward to Christmas .Parents sent their babies to school thinking they are safe and sound to only find out later their child is dead...I hope everyone treasures their loved ones every day .God bless those families who are mourning .

In China a similar thing also happened, a guy came and slashed a bunch of little kids in a school also. ;n; 

While it is very sad (and my heart goes out to those families affected), I think the worst thing is that, in the end, nothing's going to change. Even with all of these shootings nowadays, gun laws are never going to be stricter in the US.

While it is very sad (and my heart goes out to those families affected), I think the worst thing is that, in the end, nothing's going to change. Even with all of these shootings nowadays, gun laws are never going to be stricter in the US.

 

 

Guns don't kill people .People kill people .A guy in China used a knife to stab over 20 children right before this happened .Psycho's will find a way unfortunately.

In China a similar thing also happened, a guy came and slashed a bunch of little kids in a school also. ;n; 

 

 

;~; What are people becoming these days? Murdering children is just wrong and makes me sick to my stomach knowing what happened today.

While it is very sad (and my heart goes out to those families affected), I think the worst thing is that, in the end, nothing's going to change. Even with all of these shootings nowadays, gun laws are never going to be stricter in the US.

 

Sorry but that wouldnt change things. If he was willing to murder children, he obviously wouldnt mind breaking gun regulation laws.

 

;~; What are people becoming these days? Murdering children is just wrong and makes me sick to my stomach knowing what happened today.

 

It's not just "these days" either. Children die all the time. What upsets me is how people choose certain times to care about it then just forget about it.It's like the Amanda Todd thing. Teenagers kill themselves all the time, but people only seemed to care about one of them, and for like a week.I know I sound like a downer but what I'm saying is people need to pay attention to these kinds of things more often, and care all the time, because that's the only way horrible things like this will actually stop.

Sorry but that wouldnt change things. If he was willing to murder children, he obviously wouldnt mind breaking gun regulation laws.

 

Not sure if this was true because I heard it on the radio, but the son killed his own mother (who is a teacher) and her students. Plus the principle and other staff members. I guess some argument came across the son and the mom...but that still doesn't justify what he did.

While it is very sad (and my heart goes out to those families affected), I think the worst thing is that, in the end, nothing's going to change. Even with all of these shootings nowadays, gun laws are never going to be stricter in the US.

 

 

Guns don't kill people .People kill people .A guy in China used a knife to stab over 20 children right before this happened .Psycho's will find a way unfortunately.

 

 

Sorry but that wouldnt change things. If he was willing to murder children, he obviously wouldnt mind breaking gun regulation laws.

 

 

It's not just "these days" either. Children die all the time. What upsets me is how people choose certain times to care about it then just forget about it.It's like the Amanda Todd thing. Teenagers kill themselves all the time, but people only seemed to care about one of them, and for like a week.I know I sound like a downer but what I'm saying is people need to pay attention to these kinds of things more often, and care all the time, because that's the only way horrible things like this will actually stop.

 

Four posts in and this is already beginning to turn into a gun control debate. I understand that we should be talking about how to prevent this from happening in the future but this thing is still developing. The victims haven't been laid to rest, investigators are trying to uncover the facts, people are still upset and afraid, people are in pain at the hospital, and we barely know what's going on. 

 

I expected this sort of thing on facebook but come on KH13, I know we are better than this. 

Messed up :L

Four posts in and this is already beginning to turn into a gun control debate. I understand that we should be talking about how to prevent this from happening in the future but this thing is still developing. The victims haven't been laid to rest, investigators are trying to uncover the facts, people are still upset and afraid, people are in pain at the hospital, and we barely know what's going on. 

 

I expected this sort of thing on facebook but come on KH13, I know we are better than this. 

 

 

I'm not debating either side of a gun debate .I was just saying that people will find a way to kill when they decide to do it .It's very sad and scary these people exist..The guy in China used a knife hence finding a way to accomplish whatever his 'goal ' was . Other countries use suicide bombers and etc. Point being its people we should fear not necessarily the method chosen .

I was in gym class when my teacher announced this. I feel horrible about the situation. ;~; I broke down crying after I heard the news.

This world is rotting to put it bluntly, stuff like this is starting to happen all the time and its BS. I mean just look what happened a few months ago in the movie theater! Innocent teens and adults, even some kids murdered for no reason whatsoever. Now, just because another psycho decided to take his problems out on some children who've never done a thing to him, parents are going to be having funerals and burying their kids instead of having a joyful Christmas. Such a cruel world, no one deserves this.

I simply cannot put into words how I feel about this. Terrible doesn't even begin to describe it. Seeing clips on the news of kids talking about the event, it brings me close to tears.

 

The world is cruel.

 In Germany this is since hours on the big News Channels in TV ... When I think about that I have to hold my tears back and I don't really know what I should say ... I just can't accept things like this

I can't image what the family is goin through, what kind of christmas is this? Why kill innocent children who did nothing wrong, this world seriously sickness me.

We had to watch the news coverage of this in health class. At first, we were told there was only one dead, and it was a teacher. Then, out of nowhere, they were like, actually, there are 20 dead children, 6 adults, and the gunmen himself. Then they started talking about the gunmen killing his parents and his brother, and it took me a few minutes to actually cry, because I just honestly couldn't believe anyone would do this. How can you possibly hurt a little child like that? I mean, it was horrifying what he did to his adult parents, brother, and the teachers at the school, but children? I just can't even comprehend a person who is able to murder children. This is just an awful, awful tragedy, and whether you're religious or not, I think we're all praying that he ends up in hell. 

This happened about 10 minutes from my hometown. Everyone from home is in grief. This is nuts.

This happened about 10 minutes from my hometown. Everyone from home is in grief. This is nuts.

what town do you live in? I live 30 minutes away in branford.

This is so sad that I, being the selfish person I am, myself give out my Best Wishes to everyone affected. If it was me who was President, I would make there be strong laws on weapons to the point that only those in service could get them and use them. I find these to be really sad that I can't put it into words at all. I don't understand why anyone would do this at all, espically at an Elementary School. At least the shooter at that mall a few days ago made more since then this does. I not only want to give Best Wishes to everyone affected by this, but to anyone who had or will have experience something like this across the world, no matter who they are. It is just so sad to think that one day these people would be things like teachers, doctors, etc., some may become famous celebs, and now that will never happen because of one crazy dude. I just can't say anymore because I just don't have anyway to say anything else. But I would like to send this song out to everyone in the world who would have to experience something like this, God have mercy on their soul:

 

 

pretty bad

Heard about this right after I came home from my school.

 

Why? Just... why?

I was soooo excited to be done with my finals today and this just really feel absolutely horrible. It is terrible that there are people out there that think about doing things like this. It makes me so angry and makes me want to go punch a wall knowing that there are people, especially children whose futures were taken away today.

Saw a headline about this while doing an assignment today on the computer. Nobody announced it at my school, so I didn't hear anything else about it until my father brought it up.

 

These kids and the adults preparing them for their future did not deserve this ghastly fate! My best wishes be with them. Wherever they might go, the light in our hearts shall follow.

I read about this earlier, it's absolutely horrific. It's bad enough killing adults, but when someone goes out and mass-kills innocent children... There just isn't any words for it.

On another forum, someone commented with 'I'm imagining the Christmas presents and stockings that are now for nobody. It's really, really sad.' On top of that, the parents are going to go home in despair over their lost children, and come face-to-face with their bedrooms. Full of innocence and toys and memories of those who'll never get to live their lives.

My heart just broke into pieces.