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| christmas is near but what happen.. Connecticut shooting is too much.. R.I.P. |
**may the 20 children and 6 adults who died on the shooting rest in peace..
*** i dont know what to say to this one... it was really really sad.. =((
Twenty children and six adults died when a gunman rampaged through a
primary school in Newtown, Connecticut, firing a semi-automatic rifle
before killing himself.
The gunman, named by police as Adam Lanza, 20, shot and killed his
mother Nancy Lanza at their home in Newtown, an affluent town of 27,000
people about 60 miles north-east of New York City.
It is still not clear why Lanza killed his mother, who had divorced Lanza's father Peter in 2009.
Nancy Lanza was a teacher, but education officials say that
have found no links between her and Sandy Hook Elementary School -
contrary to earlier reports. Investigators believe Adam Lanza attended
the school many years ago.
After killing his mother, Lanza drove her car to the school, which has about 700 pupils aged between five and 10.
He was dressed in black fatigues. He was carrying an assault
rifle, which police say was the main weapon used during the shooting, as
well as two handguns loaded with high-capacity magazines.
Police say a fourth weapon, a shotgun, was later found in his car parked outside the school.
Visitors to the school have to be "buzzed in" by a member of staff. But
at about 09:30, Lanza shot his way into the school, police now say,
contrary to earlier reports that he had been let in.
Newtown police were notified of shooting at the school over their radios at 09:36.
"Caller is indicating she thinks someone's shooting in the building," a police dispatcher said.
A school employee ran through the halls warning of a gunman
on the loose, and someone switched on the intercom, alerting people in
the building to the attack by letting them hear the mayhem in the school
office, a teacher told AP.
One young survivor said the gunshots sounded like pots and pans falling to the floor.
Teachers locked their doors and ordered children to huddle in
a corner or hide in cupboards as shots echoed through the building.
Connecticut medical examiner H Wayne Carver said on Saturday
that the seven dead children he personally examined had been shot
between three and 11 times each, and two of those were shot at close
range.
"The bullets are designed in such a fashion that the energy is deposited in the tissue and so the bullet stays in," he said.
"This is a very devastating set of injuries."
Authorities say the shooting only lasted a few minutes and took place in two rooms.
"The shooting appears to have stopped," the police dispatcher
radioed at 09:38, according to the New York Post. "There is silence at
this time. The school is in lockdown."
Fearful the gunman could still be at large, police swarmed into the
building, breaking windows to enter at several points, Lt Paul Vance of
the Connecticut state police said. Meanwhile, other officers searched
and secured the woods surrounding the school, police said in a statement.
Inside the building officers encountered a horrific scene: 18
children and six adults shot dead, including popular principal Dawn
Hochsprung, 47. Two more children would later die from their wounds.
The officers went from room to room removing surviving children and staff from classrooms.
A library clerk who had ordered 18 children into a storage
room before locking and barricading the door gave the children paper and
crayons to keep them occupied. The police arrived at the door within an
hour, the clerk, Maryann Jacob, told the Associated Press.
"One of them slid his badge under the door, and they called and said, 'It's OK, it's the police'," she said.
The schoolchildren were escorted hand-in-hand and were told
the shut their eyes as they passed the principal's office, believed to
be the scene of much of the carnage.
They were taken to Sandy Hook fire station, where worried
parents began to gather. Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy went to the
fire station.
"Evil visited this community today and it's too early to speak of recovery," he said later.
The police, who did not fire their weapons during the search, found the body of Lanza, who appears to have killed himself.
More details about Lanza have begun to emerge, but there is
still no clear motive for the rampage. AP reported that during the
shooting he did not utter a single word.
After tentatively identifying Lanza, police rushed to the house on Yogananda Street where they found his deceased mother.
Medical examiners arrived about two hours after the scene had been secured, Dr Carver said.
They began taking photographs of the slain children and
adults in a temporary facility similar to a military field hospital set
up by the school, he said. By 01:00 on Saturday the bodies had been
transported to the medical examiner's office in Farmington, Connecticut,
where post-mortem examinations were carried out.
Relatives of the victims were shown photographs of the
deceased to help in identification - they did not view the bodies, Dr
Carver said.
Initial reports about a shooting at the school identified Ryan
Lanza, Adam Lanza's older brother, as the gunman after he was mistakenly
identified by a police official.
Ryan Lanza, 24, apparently posted Facebook updates on Friday afternoon that read, "It wasn't me" and "I was at work".
In northern New Jersey, where Ryan Lanza works at an accounting firm, police took him into custody for questioning.
A construction worker who witnessed Ryan Lanza's initial
encounter with police said he was handcuffed but remained calm, the
Record newspaper reported.
He was said to be co-operating with investigators, was not
suspected of having a role in the attack, and had not been placed under
arrest.
****credits from BBC news
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