CT School Shooting

From USA Today:

"Shooting at Conn. school leaves 27 dead"

A lone gunman killed 26 people at an elementary school here, including his mother and 20 children, in a terrifying early Friday morning shooting spree that rocked this genteel community. The Associated Press and local media reported the shooter, a 20-year-old male identified as Adam Lanza, was also dead inside Sandy Hook Elementary School. At least three weapons were recovered at the scene, including a .223-caliber assault rifle and two semi-automatic handguns. Lanza's 24-year-old brother, Ryan, of Hoboken, N.J., was being questioned by authorities.  A law enforcement official - briefed on the situation but asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak publicly - said that Nancy Lanza, the shooter's 52-year-old mother and kindergarten teacher at the school, was among those killed. Police say another adult male was found in a Newtown home owned by Nancy and Peter Lanza. Details remained sketchy several hours after the shootings, which began at about 9:30 a.m. State Police Lt. Paul Vance said authorities were still examining the gruesome crime scene and determining victims' identities.  Those lucky enough to escape the carnage fled in frightened groups - some crying, some holding hands — as they were escorted from the single-story school by teachers. Witnesses reported up to 100 shots were fired. Vance said the victims were all shot in one section of the school, believed to be two kindergarten classrooms.  Vance said 18 of the children and six adults died at the school. Two other children were pronounced dead after they were taken to local hospitals. The incident - which would be one of the worst school shootings in U.S. history - is the latest in a series of mass shootings in the U.S. this year, including Tuesday's assault by a lone gunman at a Portland, OR., shopping mall that left two dead and one wounded. A visibly shaken President Obama, wiping away tears, said he was "heartbroken." "These were "beautiful little kids between the ages of five and 10 years old,'' Obama said. "They had their entire lives ahead of them. Birthdays. Graduations. Weddings. Kids of their own." Sandy Hook is in residential, wooded neighborhood about 60 miles northeast of New York City. It has has 39 teachers and about 650 students. A reverse 911 call went out to parents warning of an incident, shaking the quiet, middle and upper-middle class community to its core. Fourth-grader Bear Nikitchyuk was heading back to his classroom when he heard someone kicking a door. "I looked behind me and all I saw was smoke and I smelled smoke. I heard shots fired. The second grade teacher grabbed me and pulled me into her room." The unidentified teacher locked the door and huddled about 20 kids in cubbie closets until police banged on the door. The teacher first balked at letting the police in until she was convinced they were police. The children eventually exited out the school's back door, through playground and walked to a nearby firehouse used as a staging area for fleeing kids and faculty.  Counselors and crisis response staff from state mental health services, children and family services, public health and the Red Cross are working with federal and local officials on the scene, Gov. Dan Malloy's office said.

^ This is both very sad and sickening. To think that someone would go into an elementary school and kill innocent children. It is one thing when it is a student doing the killing - while still sad and sick you can say that they didn't know any better, etc, but when it's an adult it makes it ever worse. I saw on the news how some students hiding in the school told their teacher that they wanted to live soe they could celebrate Christmas. If that doesn't pull at your heart strings I don't know what will. I only wish the shooter was still alive so we could put him on trial, find out why and then give him the death penalty. ^

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/12/14/school-shooting-connecticut/1769367/