US 'brought to tears' by school shooting

US 'brought to tears' by school shooting

Massacre revives gun control debate, but Obama stops short of talking reform

Distraught relatives leave a fire station after hearing news of their loved ones in Newtown, Connecticut on Friday. (AFP Photo)
Distraught relatives leave a fire station after hearing news of their loved ones in Newtown, Connecticut on Friday. (AFP Photo)

WASHINGTON: America was struggling Saturday to come to terms with one of the worst mass shootings in its history as police sought answers about what drove a 20-year-old gunman to slaughter 27 people, including 20 children and six adults, at a primary school.

Andrea Jaeger placed flowers and a candle Saturday at a makeshift memorial in Newtown, Conn. (AFP Photo)

The attacker, Adam Lanza, a 20-year-old loner, opened fire on Friday morning at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in Newtown, Connecticut, which teaches children aged between five and 10.

Lanza  first  shot  his  mother,  Nancy

Lanza, then drove to the school in her car and shot up two classrooms around 9:30am Friday, police said.

The unhinged gunman who slaughtered 26 children and adults yesterday in a elementary school arrived with guns blazing - blasting his way into the building, according to Connecticut State police.

"He was not voluntarily let into the school at all," Connecticut State Police Lt Paul Vance said at a Saturday morning press conference outside the school.

Lanza is believed to have suffered from a personality disorder and lived with his mother, said a law enforcement official who was briefed on the investigation.

Former  classmates of the  shooter remembered him as a quiet loner - someone who dressed more formally than other students, often  wearing  khaki  pants, button-down shirts and at times, a pocket protector.

"Our hearts are broken today," says President Obama, brushing back a tear while discussing Friday's tragedy. AP

Newtown,  an  affluent  town  130km northeast of New York City, Friday and Saturday held vigils to mourn the dead.

After forcing his way into the building, Lanza, dressed in black and wearing a bullet-proof vest - opened fire in two classrooms at around 9:30 a.m.

A hero custodian ran through the halls, warning of a gunman, and someone switched on the intercom, perhaps saving many lives by letting them hear the chaos in the school office, police said. Teachers locked their doors and ordered children to huddle in a corner or hide in closets as shots echoed through the building.

The principal, Dawn Hochsprung, was believed to be among the dead.

Panicked parents had raced to the Sandy

Hook school, where police told youngsters to close their eyes as they were led from the building so that they wouldn't see the blood and broken glass.

Schoolchildren - some crying, many looking  frightened  -  were  escorted through a parking lot in a line, hands on one another's shoulders.

Robert Licata said his six-year-old son was in class when the gunman burst in and shot the teacher. "That's when my son grabbed a bunch of his friends and ran out the door," he said. "He was very brave. He waited for his friends." He said the shooter didn't utter a word.

Kaitlin Roig, a teacher at the school, said she implored her students to be quiet.

"I said we have to be absolutely quiet. And I said there are bad guys out there now and we need to wait for the good guys to come get us out.

"If they started crying, I would take their face and say it's going to be okay. Show me your smile," she said. "They said, we want to go home for Christmas. Yes, yeah. I just want to hug my mum, things like that, that were just heartbreaking."

State police personnel lead children from the Sandy Hook Elementary School in this handout picture from the Newtown Bee newspaper.

After his rampage at the school, Lanza turned his gun on himself, taking the overall death toll fropm the tragedy to 28.

Hours after the shootings, a shaken nation looked on the quiet southern New England town with horror, flags flying from the US Capitol building and the White House in Washington DC were lowered to half-mast.

A visibly distressed President Barack Obama, pausing repeatedly to compose himself as he addressed the nation and at one point raising a finger to wipe a tear from the corner of his left eye, spoke of the tragic waste of young lives, with most of those dead "beautiful little kids between the ages of five and 10 years old. We've endured too many of these tragedies in the past few years. And each time I learn the news, I react not as a president, but as anybody else would as a parent. And that was especially true today," he said.

Referring to the young victims, he added:

"They had their entire lives ahead of them - birthdays, graduations, weddings, kids of their own. So our hearts are broken today for the parents and grandparents, sisters and brothers of these little children, and for the families of the adults who were lost."

The shootings revived a debate about gun control in a country with a flourishing firearms culture and a strong lobby that has discouraged most politicians from any major efforts to address the easy availability of guns and ammunition.

Mr Obama called for "meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this", but stopped short of specifically calling for tighter gun-control laws.

New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg,  founder  of  the  advocacy  group Mayors Against Illegal Guns, said it was "almost  impossible  to  believe  a  mass shooting in a kindergarten class could happen.

"We need immediate action. We have heard all the rhetoric before. What we have not seen is leadership - not from the White House and not from Congress," he said. "That must end today."

The gunman forced his way into the kindergarten-through-fourth-grade school, authorities said.

A police officer said a Glock and a Sig Sauer, both pistols, and a .223-calibre Bushmaster rifle were found in the school and a fourth weapon was found outside the school. He added that investigators were going to shooting ranges and gun stores to see if Lanza had frequented them.

Nancy Lanza was "an avid gun collector" go target shooting with her children.

"We're just praying - just need to pray to God that this does not happen again, no matter where," Amelia Adams, 76, said on her way into St Rose of Lima Catholic Church.

The church, a couple of miles from the site of the shooting, was packed inside and out on Friday night with a crowd estimated  at  more  than  1,000  people, including a large crowd outside.

"It was just, it was brutal. I can't think of a better word. It was just brutal to have to witness the pain today," Monsignor Robert Weiss said after the service.

"I'm sure this morning when they woke up and realised there was an empty bed in their house, it's becoming more and more real to them," he said of the parents of the young victims.

The worst mass school murder in US was in 1927 when a former school board member in Michigan set off three bombs that killed 45 people.


EARLIER REPORT:

NEWTOWN, Connecticut: The massacre of 26 children and adults at a US elementary school has elicited horror and soul-searching around the world even as it raised more basic questions.

Why would the gunman, a 20-year-old described as a brilliant but remote "goth", have been driven to such a crime and how did he choose his victims?

A woman waits to hear about her sister, a teacher, following a shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. AP

The tragedy has also revived the debate over the easy availability of guns in the United States. President Barack Obama said "meaningful action" was needed but, as usual, he declined to specify what that might involve.

Investigators were trying to learn more about the gunman, Adam Lanza, and questioned his older brother, who is not believed to have been involved in the rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Police shed no light on the motive for the mass shooting, one of the deadliest in US history, and among school attacks is second in victims only to the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre, which left 33 people dead, including the gunman.

A man hugs his daughters as they attend a vigil at a local church after Friday's shooting massacre in Newtown, Connecticut. AP

Reaction was swift and emotional in Newtown, a wealthy and picturesque community of 27,000 people about 100 kilometres from New York City, as well as across the country and around the world.

President Obama's comments on the tragedy were among the most outwardly emotional moments of his presidency.

"The majority of those who died were children — beautiful little kids between the ages of 5 and 10 years old," Obama said at a White House news briefing. He paused for several seconds to keep his composure as he teared up and wiped an eye. Nearby, two aides cried and held hands.

In Newtown on Friday night, hundreds of people packed St. Rose of Lima church and stood outside in a vigil for the 28 dead — 20 children and six adults at the school, the gunman's mother at home, and the gunman himself, who committed suicide. People held hands, lit candles and sang "Silent Night".

"These 20 children were just beautiful, beautiful children," Monsignor Robert Weiss said. "These 20 children lit up this community better than all these Christmas lights we have. ... There are a lot brighter stars up there tonight because of these kids."

Lanza is believed to have suffered from a personality disorder and lived with his mother, said a police official who was briefed on the investigation.

Lanza shot his mother, Nancy Lanza, drove to the school in her car with at least three guns, including a high-powered rifle that he apparently left in the back of the vehicle, and shot up two classrooms around 9.30am Friday, officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

A custodian ran through the halls, warning of a gunman, and someone switched on the intercom, perhaps saving many lives by letting them hear the chaos in the school office, a teacher said.

Teachers locked their doors and ordered children to huddle in a corner or hide in closets as shots echoed through the building.

The well-liked principal, Dawn Hochsprung, was believed to be among the dead. A woman who worked at the school was wounded.

A police official speaking on condition of anonymity said investigators believe Lanza attended the school several years ago but appeared to have no recent connection to it.

At least one parent said Lanza's mother was a substitute teacher there. But her name did not appear on a staff list. And the official said investigators were unable to establish any connection so far between her and the school.

Lanza's older brother, 24-year-old Ryan Lanza, of Hoboken, New Jersey, was questioned, but an official said he was not believed to have had a role in the rampage. Investigators were searching his computers and phone records, but he told police he had not been in touch with his brother since about 2010.

For about two hours late Friday and early Saturday, clergy members and emergency vehicles moved steadily to and from the school. The state medical examiner's office said bodies of the victims would be taken there eventually for autopsies.

At least three guns were found — a Glock and a Sig Sauer, both pistols, inside the school, and a .223-calibre rifle in the back of a car, authorities said.

A police official speaking on condition of anonymity said some of the guns used in the attack may have belonged to Lanza's family. His mother had four legally registered weapons, his father two.

Authorities also recovered three other guns — a Henry repeating rifle, an Enfield rifle and a shotgun. It was not clear exactly where those weapons were found.

Adam Lanza and his mother lived in a well-to-do part of prosperous Newtown, about 100km northeast of New York City, where neighbours are doctors or hold white-collar positions at companies such as General Electric, Pepsi and IBM.

Lanza's parents filed for divorce in 2008, according to court records. His father, Peter Lanza, lives in Stamford, Connecticut and works as a tax director for General Electric.

The gunman's aunt Marsha Lanza said her nephew was raised by kind, nurturing parents who would not have hesitated to seek mental help for him if he needed it.

"Nancy wasn't one to deny reality," Marsha Lanza said, adding her husband had seen Adam as recently as June and recalled nothing out of the ordinary.

Catherine Urso, of Newtown, said her college-age son knew the killer and remembered him for his alternative style. "He just said he was very thin, very remote and was one of the goths," she said.

Adam Lanza attended Newtown High School, and several news clippings from recent years mention his name among the honor roll students.

Joshua Milas, who graduated from Newtown High in 2009 and belonged to the school technology club with him, said Adam Lanza was generally a happy person but that he hadn't seen him in a few years.

"We would hang out, and he was a good kid. He was smart," Joshua Milas said. "He was probably one of the smartest kids I know. He was probably a genius."

An official who spoke on condition of anonymity said it was not clear that Adam Lanza had a job, and there was no indication of police interviews or search warrants at a place of business.

Frank DeAngelis, principal of Colorado's Columbine High School, where a massacre in 1999 killed 15 people, said that "these sensless deaths" have to stop.

In Washington, the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence organised a vigil at the White House, with some protesters chanting, "Today IS the day" to take steps to curb gun violence.

In New York's Times Square, a few dozen people held tea lights in plastic cups, with one woman holding a sign that read: "Take a moment and candle to remember the victims of the Newtown shooting."

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard described the attack as a "senseless and incomprehensible act of evil."

"Like President Obama and his fellow Americans, our hearts too are broken," Gillard said in a statement.

In Japan, where guns are severely restricted and there are extremely few gun-related crimes, the attack led the news two days before nationwide parliamentary elections. In China, which has seen several knife rampages at schools in recent years, the attack quickly consumed public discussion.

At the Newtown vigil, Anthony Bloss, whose three daughters survived, said they are doing better than he. "I'm numb. I'm completely numb," he said.

Panicked parents looking for their children had raced earlier in the day to Sandy Hook, a kindergarten-through-fourth-grade school where police told youngsters to close their eyes as they were led from the building so that they wouldn't see the blood and broken glass.

Schoolchildren — some crying, many looking frightened — were escorted through a parking lot in a line, hands on one another's shoulders.

Robert Licata said his six-year-old son was in class when the gunman burst in and shot the teacher. "That's when my son grabbed a bunch of his friends and ran out the door," he said. "He was very brave. He waited for his friends."

He said the shooter didn't utter a word.

Kaitlin Roig, a teacher at the school, said she implored her students to be quiet.

"I told them we had to be absolutely quiet. Because I was just so afraid if he did come in, then he would hear us and just start shooting the door. I said we have to be absolutely quiet. And I said there are bad guys out there now and we need to wait for the good guys to come get us out," Roig told ABC News.

"If they started crying, I would take their face and say it's going to be OK. Show me your smile," she said. "They said, we want to go home for Christmas. Yes, yeah. I just want to hug my mom, things like that, that were just heartbreaking."

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