Shop owner Tamara Doherty paces outside her store just down the road from Sandy Hook Elementary School, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. The massacre of 26 children and ad ults at the school elicited horror and soul-searching around the world even as it raised more basic questions about why the gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, would have been driven to such a crime and how he chose his victims. All the victims of the Connecticut elementary school shooting were killed up close by multi
This photo posted to the Emilie Parker Fund Facebook page shows Emilie Parker. Fighting back tears and struggling to catch his breath, Robbie Parker the father of 6-year-old Emile Parker who was gunned down in Friday#39;s school shooting in Connecticut told the world about a little girl who loved to draw and was always smiling, and he also reserved surprising words of sympathy for the gunman. All the victims of the Connecticut elementary school shooting were killed up close by multiple rifle s
Sandy Hook Elementary School Principal Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung, 47, was killed as she, along with school psychologist Mary Sherlach, attempted to overtake gunman Adam Lanza during the Dec. 14 mass shooting at the school. Hochsprung and Sherlach reportedly both lunged at Lanza in an effort to defend the students and teachers at the school. Both women were killed. All the victims of the Connecticut elementary school shooting were killed up close by multiple rifle shots, a medical examiner said.
School psychologist Mary Sherlach, 56, was killed during an attempt to stop gunman Adam Lanza during the Dec. 14 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. Sherlach and school principal Dawn Hochsprung reportedly both lunged at Lanza in an attempt to protect the school#39;s students and teachers. Both Sherlach and Hochsprung were killed. All the victims of the Connecticut elementary school shooting were killed up close by multiple rifle shots, a medical examiner said. Dr.
Lauren Rousseau, 30, had started a job as a full-time teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary School this fall. She was killed in the Dec. 14 shooting at the school. All the victims of the Connecticut elementary school shooting were killed up close by multiple rifle shots, a medical examiner said. Dr. H. Wayne Carver said at a news conference Saturday the deaths are classified as homicides. He said he believes “everybody was hit more than once.” “This is a very devastating set of injuries,” Carver
This 2012 photo provided by the family shows Emilie Alice Parker. Parker was killed Friday, Dec. 14, 2012, when a gunman opened fire at Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Conn., killing 26 children and ad ults at the school. All the victims of the Connecticut elementary school shooting were killed up close by multiple rifle shots, a medical examiner said. Dr. H. Wayne Carver said at a news conference Saturday the deaths are classified as homicides. He said he believes “everybody was hit
The New York Post also reports that Adam Lanza was the suspected gunman. There was no immediate word of any motive. Adam Lanza, a troubled 20-year-old loner with a history of autistic behavior, is the monster behind a horrific shooting at a Connecticut elementary school that left 26 people, including 20 children, dead According to public records, Adam Lanza lived at 36 Yogananda St. in Newtown. His mother, Nancy Lanza, who was shot to death in her home on Friday, is also listed as a resident
The horrific shooting at the Newtown, Conn., elementary school that left 28 dead, including 20 children, has re-ignited a polarizing debate over gun control. If nothing else, it’s time to get very, very serious about discussing the issue. Public figures immediately jumped in to offer condolences in the wake of the mass murder committed by Adam Lanza , while some called for new restrictions. Plenty of others, while clearly sympathetic to the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, defended gun rights and the 2nd Amendment. President Barack Obama, who cried during a press conference regarding the shooting Friday, did not touch upon the controversial issue of gun control by name. He did, though, sound a call to prevent further tragedies, regardless of politics. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he was “shocked and saddened” by the tragic shooting. He said society should “unify” to “crack down on the guns.” N.Y. City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said “immediate action” was needed. Mark Kelly, husband of former Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was gravely injured by a gunman in Tucson in 2011, wrote on Facebook: “The children of Sandy Hook Elementary School and all victims of gun violence deserve leaders who have the courage to participate in a meaningful discussion about gun laws.” “How can they be reformed and enforced to prevent violence and death in America?” Many believe the CT school shooting tragedy is just the latest, preventable case of a bullied, disgrunted and/or mentally ill person taking lives that could’ve been saved. Directly or indirectly, are guns too readily available to the perpetrators? Fewer guns, tougher laws, fewer tragedies, right? Take away the availability and fewer weapons will fall into the wrong hands at the wrong times. Right? Lots of people would agree with that theory, but not necessarily a majority. The debate has been fast and furious in the past 24 hours, and not one-sided. Trending topics on Twitter included “2nd Amendment,” “NRA” and “Columbine.” For every argument about the 2nd Amendment being antiquated is a counter-argument about its necessity, and its place in the foundation of American liberty. Some gun rights advocates believe this tragedy epitomizes the need for gun rights , not gun control, as a means of protection against those who may act violently. One Twitter user wrote, “The only gun reform we need is to allow people the ability to defend themselves, not provide nut jobs with easy targets #NRA.” Another posted, “Guns don’t kill people people do! Practice the 2nd Amendment – keep your gun loaded with you at all times – the younger you are the better.” Philosophically, gun rights activists feel that gun control takes away another piece of our liberty, starting a slippery slope toward socialism and totalitarianism. From a practical standpoint, they argue that criminals will always find a way to obtain guns, and that only law-abiding citizens would abide by regulations anyway. Furthermore, they feel crimes are just as often prevented by the deterrent of gun possession, and a dangerous black market would develop in the event of tougher laws. In light of recent events, and the arguments above, what do you think? Comment and vote below: Is it time to pass major gun control laws? YES. Fewer guns, fewer tragedies! NO. It’s unconstitutional and won’t stop anything! View Poll »
Tom Cruise will not be walking the red carpet in Pittsburgh tonight. Paramount has announced that it’s delayed the official premiere of Jack Reacher in that city, out of respect for the unspeakable events of the Connecticut shooting in Newtown yesterday. Jack Reacher Trailer Said the studio in a statement: “Due to the terrible tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut, and out of honor and respect for the families of the victims whose lives were senselessly taken, we are postponing tomorrow’s Pittsburgh premiere of ‘Jack Reacher.’ Our hearts go out to all those who lost loved ones.” New information continues to come in regarding the massacre, but Adam Lanza is believed to have shot and killed 27 people at Sandy Hook Elementary school, most of whom were children and teachers. Jack Reacher , meanwhile, was filmed in Pittsburgh and features Cruise as a violent character created by author Lee Child. It opens on December 21.
The shooter killed his mother first before he ran rampant in the school. Via the Associated Press : Nancy Lanza’s body was found later at their home on Yoganda Street in Newtown – after the carnage at Sandy Hook Elementary School; after a quiet New England town was scarred forever by unthinkable tragedy; after a nation seemingly inured to violence found itself stunned by the slaughter of innocents. Nobody knows why 20-year-old Adam Lanza killed his mother, why he then took her guns to the school and murdered 20 children and six adults. But on Friday he drove his mother’s car through this 300-year-old town with its fine old churches and towering trees, and arrived at a school full of the season’s joy. Somehow, he got past a security door to a place where children should have been safe from harm. Theodore Varga and other fourth-grade teachers were meeting; the glow remained from the previous night’s fourth-grade concert. “It was a lovely day,” Varga said. “Everybody was joyful and cheerful. We were ending the week on a high note.” And then, suddenly and unfathomably, gunshots rang out. “I can’t even remember how many,” he said. The fourth-graders, the oldest kids in the school, were in specialty classes like gym and music. There was no lock on the meeting room door, so the teachers had to think about how to escape, knowing that their students were with other teachers. Someone turned the loudspeaker on, so everyone could hear what was happening in the office. “You could hear the hysteria that was going on,” Varga said. “Whoever did that saved a lot of people. Everyone in the school was listening to the terror that was transpiring.” Gathered in another room for a 9:30 meeting were principal Dawn Hochsprung and Diane Day, a school therapist, along with a school psychologist, other staff members and a parent. They were meeting to discuss a second-grader. “We were there for about five minutes chatting, and we heard Pop! Pop!, Pop!” Day told The Wall Street Journal. “I went under the table.” But Hochsprung and the psychologist leaped out of their seats and ran out of the room, Day recalled. “They didn’t think twice about confronting or seeing what was going on,” she said. Hochsprung was killed, and the psychologist was believed to have been killed as well. A custodian ran around, warning people there was a gunman, Varga said. “He said, `Guys! Get down! Hide!’” Varga said. “So he was actually a hero.” Did he survive? The teacher did not know. In a first-grade classroom, teacher Kaitlin Roig heard the shots. She immediately barricaded her 15 students into a tiny bathroom, sitting one of them on top of the toilet. She pulled a bookshelf across the door and locked it. She told the kids to be “absolutely quiet.” “I said, `There are bad guys out there now. We need to wait for the good guys,’” she told ABC News. “The kids were being so good,” she said. “They asked, `Can we go see if anyone is out there?’ `I just want Christmas. I don’t want to die, I just want to have Christmas.’ I said, `You’re going to have Christmas and Hanukkah.’” One student claimed to know karate. “It’s OK. I’ll lead the way out,” the student said. In the gym, crying fourth-graders huddled in a corner. One of them was 10-year-old Philip Makris. “He said he heard a lot of loud noises and then screaming,” said his mother, Melissa Makris. “Then the gym teachers immediately gathered the children in a corner and kept them safe.” Another girl who was in the gym recalled hearing “like, seven loud booms.” “The gym teacher told us to go in a corner, so we all huddled and I kept hearing these booming noises,” the girl, who was not identified by name, told NBC News. “We all started – well, we didn’t scream; we started crying, so all the gym teachers told us to go into the office where no one could find us.” An 8-year-old boy described how a teacher saved him. “I saw some of the bullets going past the hall that I was right next to, and then a teacher pulled me into her classroom,” said the boy, who was not identified by CBSNews.com. Robert Licata said his 6-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. “Then our teacher, somebody, yelled, `Get to a safe place.’ Then we went to a closet in the gym and we sat there for a little while, and then the police were, like, knocking on the door and they were, like, `We’re evacuating people, we’re evacuating people,’ so we ran out.” Children, warned to close their eyes so they could not see the product of his labors, were led away from their school. Parents rushed to the scene. Family members walked away from a firehouse that was being used as a staging area, some of them openly weeping. One man, wearing a T-shirt without a jacket, put his arms around a woman as they walked down the middle of the street, oblivious to everything around them. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and other public officials came to the firehouse. So did clergymen like Monsignor Robert Weiss of Newtown’s St. Rose Roman Catholic Church. He watched as parents came to realize that they would never see their children alive again. “All of them were hoping their child would be found OK. But when they gave out the actual death toll, they realized their child was gone,” Weiss said. He recalled the reaction of the brother of one of the victims. “They told a little boy it was his sister who passed on,” Weiss said. “The boy’s response was, `I’m not going to have anyone to play with.” We’ll keep you updated on this developing story… Images via twitter
