Update 8:20 a.m., Dec. 15
Newtown police say investigators do not have a motive for the gunman and will not release the shooter's name or the names of the children killed Friday. More information is with new developments from Newtown.
Update 8:08 p.m., Dec. 14
Saying officials will identify all victims in the mass killings at a Newtown elementary school — including the shooter, who took his own life — on Saturday, state police called the day’s shocking events “heart-wrenching.”
No parents have been given access to the inside of Sandy Hook Elementary School, where the bodies of 18 children, six adults and suspected gunman Adam Lanza remain, Lt. J. Paul Vance of the Connecticut State Police said Friday night at a press conference. Two other children died after they were transported to a nearby hospital.
All family members of the deceased have been notified, Vance said.
A press conference is scheduled for 8 a.m. Saturday, Vance said.
Vance spoke in general terms of the investigation into the shooter, whom multiple media outlets have identified as Lanza, citing police sources.
“At this point we are confident that we have the shooter,” Vance said.
All of the shooter’s relatives have been identified and contacted, Vance said. Lanza’s brother had been detained earlier in the day Friday, within hours of the shooting, which started at approximately 9:40 a.m. Their mother has been confirmed among those killed, as has the school’s principal, Dawn Hochsprung.
“I think what we have got to do is … look at all the history,” Vance said of the police investigation. “We will go backwards and hopefully stumble on answers.”
Update 7:10 p.m.
Twenty-year-old Adam Lanza, whose older brother had been detained by police in New Jersey earlier Friday, has been identified as the gunman in Newtown who killed 20 children, six adults and himself, according to the Huffington Post.
Citing multiple media outlets including CNN, the Huffington Post said many media organizations had relied on inaccurate information to report the shooter as Adam Lanza’s brother earlier in the day. As reported by Patch, the brother — Ryan Lanza — now is grieving not only for his brother but also their mother.
David Owens, a Hartford Courant reporter, said during a TV interview that police sources say other people outside of the school may also have been killed by the gunman.
Update 6:15 p.m.
Calling Friday morning’s fatal shootings of 27 people at a Newtown elementary school, including 20 children, “unspeakable” and “tragic,” Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy said during a press conference moments ago that it’s too early to talk about recovery.
“What each parent, each sibling, each member of [affected families] has to understand is that in Connecticut we are all in this together to do whatever we can to overcome this event,” Malloy said. “We will get through it.”
Update 5:11 p.m.
State police confirmed that one person was responsible for the shooting deaths of 20 children and six adults, saying the gunman has been tentatively identified but declining to identify the shooter.
“We will identify the shooter at an appropriate time,” Lt. J. Paul Vance of the Connecticut State Police said during a 5 p.m. press conference Friday. “Just for our investigatory purposes it’s not appropriate right now.”
“We will leave no stone unturned as we are looking at every facet of this investigation,” Vance said, adding that police would hold another briefing around 6 p.m.
Vance confirmed that local, state and federal officials responded to the shocking incident in this normally peaceful southwestern Connecticut town, including an FBI crisis team. Counseling has been made available not only to affected families but also to first responders on scene.
“We provided counseling for the first responders, because this was a very tragic, horrific scene that we encountered,” Vance said.
The gunman shot and killed himself, Vance said.
Update: 3:50 p.m.
The actions of one gunman — 27 lives lost.
"This is an active ongoing investigation" Connecticut State Police Lt. Paul Vance said at an afternoon press conference Friday, updating the assembled media about the state of the investigation into the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Vance confirmed the death toll: 20 children, 6 adults, including the shooter, and one adult victim at a "secondary scene" in Connecticut.
But in response to multiple questions from press, Vance said at one point: "There are a lot of things we cannot confirm."
He did offer the beginning of a basic timeline, saying the first call came in at around 9:30 a.m.
"Officers immediately entered the school to search for students, faculty and staff and remove them," he said. "They did search every nook and cranny...Those who were rescued were taken to a staging area."
The school is now secure. Two rooms of the school appeared to be the gunman's focus.
"It is not a simplistic scene," Vance said. "We will be here through the night and through the weekend. We are not putting a time stamp on this process."
The secondary local crime scene may well be this investigation in the Sandy Hook section, the only other known center of police investigation in Newtown right now.
Vance is expected to give another update in about an hour.
Update: 3:38 p.m.
Patch exclusive: The man identified in media reports Friday as the shooter has told friends that he thinks his developmentally disabled brother may have committed the crime, Patch has learned.
A close friend of Ryan Lanza who would not be identified told Patch that he spoke to Lanza as Lanza made his way home from work to Hoboken. Lanza also took to his Facebook page to rail against CNN naming him as the suspect in the shooting in Newtown, Conn.
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More links to Newtown Patch’s coverage here:
- Shooting Prompts Religious Leaders to Host Special Prayer Services
- Reaction: Sandy Hook School Shooting
- Police Raid Sandy Hook Home Hours After Shooting
- [PHOTOS] Newtown School Shooting
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“I’m on the bus home now, it wasn’t me,” Lanza wrote.
Lanza’s mother, Nancy, is believed to be among the dead. [Note: Nancy Lanza originally had been reported to be a teacher at the school, but that is not true, according to CNN.]
Patch was among the media outlets to highlight and link to reports naming Ryan Lanza as the alleged shooter. Police haven't yet officially confirmed the identity of the gunman.
Meanwhile President Barack Obama said that parents across the United States will hug their children a little tighter Friday night after the morning’s shocking shooting deaths of elementary school kids in Newtown, and he told the nation that it must “come together.”
During a press conference that ended moments ago, Obama said “our hearts are broken” for those that lost loved ones at Sandy Hook Elementary School during a tragedy whose cause and suspected perpetrators remain unclear.
“Our hearts are broken for the parents of the survivor as well, as blessed as they are to have their children home tonight, they know their children’s innocence has been torn away from them too early,” Obama said.
Update: 3:18 p.m.
Gov. Dannel Malloy is scheduled to hold a press conference at 3:30 p.m. Friday. Malloy, who met with parents, has received an offer of federal assistance from President Obama.
Original story:
Citing sources, the Associated Press is reporting the gunman who rampaged through the Sandy Hook Elementary School was armed with four guns including a high-powered rifle and is believed to have shot and killed up to 30 people including 18 children. The death toll could rise.
Investigators have identified the gunman “as a man in his 20s from Connecticut and they are searching his father’s home in New Jersey,” according to WABC Channel 7. The hometown was not immediately identified. According to Connecticut State Police spokesman Lt. Paul Vance said the gunman was found dead inside the school.
Friday afternoon distraught parents continued to wait to be reunited with their children. After meeting with parents of the students, Gov. Dannel Malloy is now at the school. Authorities said much information will not be released until the relatives of the victims are notified.
Channel 7 also is reporting the President Obama has telephoned Malloy to express condolences and to offer any federal assistance needed in the investigation of the shooting that was first reported to Newtown Police just before 9:30 a.m. Friday.
A fourth-grade student at Sandy Hook Elementary School said he and his classmates were “locked in a closet in the gym” to escape the gunman. In an interview with Channel 7, the student said, “the police came and …. We ran to the firehouse.”
Update: 1:25 p.m.
Press conference is still at least an hour away, an official just told Patch.
Update: 1:20 p.m.
The community is in "sheer shock." Read our interviews with Newtown residents as they try to make sense of the violence.
Update: 1:00 p.m.
Citing an anonymous official "with knowledge" the Associated Press is reporting 27 people dead including 18 children at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
The shooter is believed to be a single adult and is now dead.
Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy is in Newtown and a press conference set for 1 p.m. but hasn't yet begun. Patch is there.
Original Story
Officials in Newtown say they're trying to reunite parents with their children in the wake of a shocking multiple shooting at an elementary school in the town’s Sandy Hook neighborhood.
First Selectman Pat Llodra told Patch that there is no information being released about the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting — only confirming that there was a shooting.
"I'm horrified, saddened and shocked that this happened in Newtown," Llodra said. "Our priorities right now are making sure everyone safe and reuniting parents with their children."
A reverse 911 call went out to all Newtown public school parents, NBC is reporting. Parents are converging all around the school seeking information about their children.
One mother of an 8-year-old girl at the school, Brenda Lebinski, told Patch that her daughter is safe thanks to one teacher's decision to move all kids into a closet when a gunman had entered the building.
Lebinski said that she had spoken to her daughter's teacher as well as a volunteer who was in the school at the time of the shooting, and that a masked gunman had shot adults in the school.
"My daughter's teacher is my hero," Lebinski said. "She locked all the kids in a closet and that saved their lives."
According to Lebinski, the school had been on lockdown but police started leading out children and faculty members by class, and several children had blood on their clothing as they were led out. It isn't clear how many kids are still inside the school. Parents continue to surround the area, seeking news of their children.
Christine Wilford, a parent of a seven-year-old boy at the school, told Patch that her son was out of the school and safe with her husband. A woman standing next to Wilford burst into tears, saying her own son was still inside.
Danbury Hospital has confirmed to TV reporters that three patients have been transported by ambulance.
The Hartford Courant is reporting multiple injured parties, saying a shooter had been in the building’s main office and an individual in one area had “numerous gunshot wounds,” police said.
State police reported shortly after 12 p.m. that officials from the state Medical Examiner's Office were en route to the scene.
At a fire station near the school that's serving as a staging area, a woman was being wheeled on a gurney as a helicopter circled overhead and armed officials from multiple state and federal agencies moved beyond a cordoned-off area swarmed by parents. Dozens of parents could be seen walking to the school as motor vehicle traffic snarled the area of Dickinson Drive.
Marilyn Gudsnuk, 52, of nearby Southbury said she heard 10 to 12 gunshots around 9:40 a.m. Gudsnuk, who attended the elementary school herself as a childhood, said she is taking care of a 91-year-old resident who lives across the street from the school.
"I took off running into the house," she said. "I didn't know what was happening. It was scary."
Asked whether she imagined a shooting could happen at her former school, Gudsnuk said, "Never in a million years."
"I just pray for these people," she said. "The anguish they are going through. And all because someone's not right in the head."
One man who identified himself as a cable worker and declined to give his name, told Patch that he was up on a utility pole at the time of the shooting. When he heard shots, the man said he thought they it was hunters, but then in a few minutes emergency response vehicles sped beneath his ladder.
Newtown Patch will post more information here as it becomes available.
Claire Moses contributed this report.
What the local communities must now do is "Seek out the mentally ill" They are the "Ticking mental ARMS" that can Kill using whatever method of their choosing. Society must Call on every Parent to "TURN IN THESE Children-Now" It is not handguns that need to be turned in. Local government should encourage Parents & friends to rid the streets of "mis-guided" individuals. Mass killngs are done by "mentally disturbed" young. Giving them PILLS rather than Faith and a purpose in life will not stop future mass deranged killings. You are 100% right on. A "Faith" in GOD and "Prayer" needs to be put back in schools of "Tax paying" American. Mental illnesses come from losing "faith". It is time for Every Taxpayer supporting our schools to let the majority rule. A return to morals and the Christian laws of society should trump the no GOD no prayer , no Faith mentality being imposed on society. All mass killings could be eliminated if parents did not allow our children to be taught low morals, no GOD, No prayer, NO HOPE! Prayer is necessary to Cultivate the "MIND". THOU SHALT HONOR THY FATHER,MOTHER (not who is my Parent) THOU SHALT NOT KILL THOU SHALT NOT COVET THY neighbor's GOODS (yet we teach to steal from the RICH)Parent's, your Faith in GOD will give you strength. I know, I lost a 19yr old.
Were they Killed by a Gun or Killed by a person? Many here are debating that. I wonder if we say a prayer for every "Baby" killed by an abortion clinic. All in our culture of Woman's rights. "innocent young babies" No reflection on you LMStigler, just my sorrow speaking out. Another topic for another Day.
Today I have lit 28 candles that will stay going for 28 days one for each life that was taken, and one for the light of God, for they have all entered his kingdom one by one....
I say yes. There is no reason to have removed the one thing a Christian society needs to nurture our children into Healthy minds. I pray, also for CT to lead this country in returning "Prayer" back into our Schools. Our children and culture are self-destructing right before your eyes. Mental illnesses can be minimized by having our children learn about the "power of Prayer". I lost a son at age 19. It was sudden (accident). Just like a shooting perpetrated by a "sick mind". It was Prayer that saved my mind. I learned this in school at young age. We will continue to produce "unhealthy Weak sick minds" unless a daily prayer is returned to our schools. Faith, Prayer = Nourishment. Low morals, irresponsibility rewarded by " false-compassion" leads to a corrupt mindset. Many of our children today no longer have a "faith" in Parents or Government. Even Atheists need the Faith in Government to be of sound mind. Our schools have kicked out the invisible real defender of our children--"Prayer" Who would you blame for Mass killings?Guns or "prayer" or Mental illness? I say mental illness.To me, mental illness results from a loss of "FAITH". What faith does not matter.Parent's of lost children prove that Faith in "Prayer" is a necessary ingredient to "mentally" survive. I know that no Psychiatrist Pill works.
1)To Laura, Your reply of "so what" on the issue that shooters were active at the shooting range located in proximity to the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary is a reply that could be examined by a psychotherapist. a) Reply to "..just fine and the way it needs to be done", why did a perpetrator in possession of a gun gain access inside of Sandy Hook Elementary school? b)Reply to, if I did as you say "do like the rest of us and watch" other children at that school maybe put at risk. 2) Reply to Keith, "you don't live in reality" a) As an individual who hails from a family of detectives, I have two comments ... metal detectors, and coded identification badges. They are utilized at several schools i.e. in eastern Massachusetts towns where the demographics and population are practically identical to that of Newtown, CT. Such security measures help to prevent an unwanted perpetrator from entering a school building with a weapon. a)Reply to Keith’s “people are naturally trusting”, why would there not be security procedures to check each individual who attempts to enter a school who might be carrying a weapon? High Morals can implement tighter security.
What about this arrest detailed by a witness at the scene (see link below)? Who is he? What is his occupation? Why was he at the school? What did he say while detained? Who issued his "get-out-of-jail-free" card? Why is the media ignoring it? http://bit.ly/W9rNyE Families of the deceased, you are the only ones with the voice and the standing to ask the question. Ask it on live TV so you cannot be edited out. The 20 year old autistic kid didn't kill 26 people in two minutes. Demand that they find out who did.
f any of you would like to send your kids pictures they drew, or even a Christmas card, there is a group that has contacted the Police Department and gotten the OK to send such things... https://www.facebook.com/ChristmasForNewtown
name from Columbine? And not Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. Turn off your tv and forget this idiots name and remember these poor lil children and donate money to these families and to mental health and lets not gripe about gun control.
It didn't help in this case because Lanza killed his mother with her own gun and then went on his shooting spree. But he would have faced some obstacles to obtaining a gun of his own.
The worst school mass murder in US history killed 38 elementary school children, two teachers, four other adults, and the perpetrator. That was at the Bath Consolidated School in Bath Township, Michigan, on May 18, 1927. They had prayer in school then, but God did absolutely nothing to prevent that slaughter.
But for now, I want all of the families affected to know that you are not alone. That you are right now receiving the love and condolences of an entire nation, and hopefully we can somehow help give you the strength to endure the next days, weeks, and years. And please know that as long as we stand together in the face of darkness like this, those who seek to spread it can NOT and will NEVER win. As long as we allow such tragedy to unite us instead of driving us apart, as communities, as a nation, and as people, there will ALWAYS be hope. God bless all of you.
I understand that guns can cause more harm in a few seconds that other items. But I also understand that across the U.S. there are probably hundreds of people raised around guns, learned how to use them properly and legally and they aren't the ones causing the terror. Isn't is always someone with some form of mental illness,or a lack of control of their emotions. We will never be able to predict who and where they are on any given day? Anyone can learn how to cause great physical harm to others from the internet. How will we legislate control of that? All we can do now is find responsible ways to improve upon the security already in place and pray that families struggling with mental health issues will find the help needed. Let's honor the memories of those that were lost at the school by respecting one another no matter where you live or what you own. Newtown strong.
Praying for everyone tonight! May they enjoy Christmas in Christ's arms. :(.
availability for mental health needs in every state. The disparity of our states and national organizations is enormous in respect to laws, monies, and willingness to talk on all of these subjects . We must TALK, LISTEN, and ACT. Our country is more violent than any other democratic civilized country in the world. WAKE UP all citizens and legislators and put your voice and money where it will help the future of our children and of all of us.
The gun lobby cynically waits until the fervor dies down and people return to the norm. We MUST stay motivated. In my mind the argument is over. The debate is over. No more discussion.We must simply move on past the gun lobby's unconscionable obstructionism. We must support President Obama and VP Biden's checklist, which WILL NOT eliminate mass killings, but surely will save some lives. And then, we must keep our efforts local. We need not look any further than our own embarrassing House member, Dana Rohrbacher, who is a longterm member of the ultra-right Gun Owners of America (GOA), which condemns the NRA for being too soft on gun laws. We need to organize and start the process of change AT HOME. Get Rohrbacher OUT. Orange County is no longer the repository of hard-core Right thinking. It's time we flex our electoral muscle and move on. Rohrbacher GOES next time.