Newtown Connecticut

YLGuy

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Newtown Connecticut

« on: December 14, 2012, 03:46:45 PM »

I am sure many of you heard about this tragedy. I was at dialysis this morning when I remembered that one of my best friends from high school works at the school that this happened at. I did not bring my computer to dialysis so I could not check on her status. She also has a very young daughter. I could not bring myself to call her and had to wait until I got home to find out if she and her daughter were okay. They are thank God. They are in my thoughts and prayers along with so many of the other families.

NEWTOWN, Conn.—A gunman opened fire at a Connecticut elementary school where his mother worked, killing 26 people, including 20 children, law-enforcement officials said, in what could be the worst mass shooting at a U.S. elementary or high school.

The shooter was found dead inside Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, a community of about 27,000 located about 65 miles northeast of New York City. State police said another victim was found dead elsewhere in Newtown, putting the total toll at 28.

WSJ's Alison Fox reports live from the firehouse in Newtown, Conn. where children from the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting have been evacuated. Photo: Twitter.com/AlisonFox.

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Law-enforcement officials identified the suspected shooter as 20-year-old Adam Lanza. Officials said the alleged shooter's mother was a teacher at the school, and she was believed to be among the victims. Earlier, a law-enforcement official incorrectly identified the suspect as Mr. Lanza's brother, Ryan. Authorities didn't identify a motive.

The attack at Sandy Hook, a historic village lined with colonial homes in Newtown, began at about 9:40 a.m. and was concentrated around a single classroom, a school bathroom and a hallway, an official said.

Diane Day, a therapist at the school, was sitting with the principal, Dawn Hochsprung, other staff members and a parent in a routine meeting around 9:30 a.m. when she heard gunshots. "We were there for about five minutes chatting and we heard, 'pop pop pop,' " she said. "I went under the table."

Ms. Hochsprung and school psychologist leaped out of their seats and ran out of the room, Ms. Day said. "They didn't think twice about confronting or seeing what was going on," she said. Ms. Hochsprung was killed in the massacre.

Without a lock on the door, the school's lead teacher pressed her body against the door to hold it shut, Ms. Day said. That teacher was shot through the door in the leg and arm. "She was our hero," Ms. Day said.

Shock, Tragedy at Connecticut School

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Newtown Bee/Reuters
Connecticut State Police led children from the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., after a shooting there Friday.

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Lt. J. Paul Vance, a spokesman for the Connecticut State Police, said that multiple law-enforcement agencies were engaged in "search-warrant activity." Lt. Vance said investigators were looking "both in and out of state" for information on the gunman but assured the public that they weren't at risk.

A federal law-enforcement official said a .223 Bushmaster rifle was found in the back of a vehicle at the scene. Two firearms were recovered near the alleged gunman's body: a Glock and a Sig Sauer, both handguns.

The scene was chaotic as initial reports of a shooting grew steadily worse. Joe Wasik, whose daughter, Alexis, is in the third grade at the school, said his wife called him a little after 10 a.m. after receiving a text from the town's automated alert system on her phone. Checking his laptop, Mr. Wasik saw the reports of a shooting and raced to the scene.

"There were cars everywhere," he said, describing a crush of parents at a nearby firehouse where parents were sent to look for their children among those evacuated from the school.

Alexis, who was standing in the crowd, crying, was "a nervous wreck," he said. Mr. Wasik said his daughter had sheltered in a closet during the shooting, and he wasn't sure if she had heard the shots.

Mr. Wasik's wife took their daughter to a cousin's house to play in an attempt to take her mind off the shooting. He remained in the firehouse to wait for a friend, who was sequestered in another room at the firehouse—an area for parents whose children were still missing.

Mr. Wasik's voice was still shaking, hours after the massacre. "Pretty much everyone has dispersed, except for parents with missing children," he said.

President Barack Obama was notified of the attack around 10:30 a.m. by his counterterrorism and homeland security adviser, John Brennan, White House press secretary Jay Carney said.

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Reuters
A young boy was comforted outside Sandy Hook Elementary School after a shooting Friday.

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Mr. Obama spoke on the phone with Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Robert Mueller and Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy to receive an update on the situation and express his condolences, Mr. Carney said.

Mr. Malloy, in a news conference Friday afternoon, said "you can never be prepared for this kind of incident," adding that what happened "will leave a mark on this community and every family impacted."

Mr. Obama delivered an emotional statement from the White House Friday afternoon, tearing up several times as he spoke of the children who were killed. "They had their entire lives ahead of them—birthday, weddings, kids of their own," Mr. Obama said pausing to wipe tears from his eyes.

Saying he was reacting as a parent of two daughters, he called the shooting a "heinous crime" and vowed to press for meaningful action, regardless of the politics, to prevent more such incidents in the future. "We've endured too many of these tragedy in the last few years," he said.

The death toll at Sandy Hook Elementary, which has nearly 600 students in kindergarten through 4th grade and 42 teachers, exceeds the death at Columbine High School in 1999, which left 12 students and one teacher dead at the hands of two fellow students, who also took their own lives.

In 2007, 33 people including the gunmen were shot and killed on the campus of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va.

Schools nationwide have increased security measures since the fatal shooting at Columbine. Many installed metal detectors, developed detailed crisis plans, implemented policies to keep school doors locked and accessible only by buzzer, and put teachers and staff through training session on how to recognize and deal with threats.

Michael Dorn, executive director of Safe Havens International, a nonprofit that works with thousands of U.S. schools to develop safety plans, said there has been a dramatic improvement in school safety "but so much more" could be done.

New details on the shooter at Sandy Hook Elementary School: Suspect was a 20-year-old man. Photo: AP Images.

A letter sent to Sandy Hook parents earlier this year described a new security protocol put in place at the school. The protocol requires identification for most visitors who must ring a doorbell to gain entry to the school's front entrance, which is locked after 9:30 a.m.

"If our office staff does not recognize you, you will be required to show identification with a picture ID," the letter said.

Leigh Libero's daughter, Joey, would have been in a second-grade classroom Friday morning, but she had a dentist appointment. As Ms. Libero pulled up to the school, she saw just-erected barricades and received an urgent text message from her sister, who works at a television news station in Hartford.

Children were led out the school's driveway, directly to the firehouse, where parents streamed in "en masse" to locate their children, Ms. Libero said. "This is the perfect New England town," Ms. Libero said. "You wouldn't think of this."

Ms. Libero said parents were trying to determine how the gunman entered the school. The school uses a double-secured door during the day, she said. Visitors approaching the school must press a button to be buzzed in through the outer set of school doors to enter the building.

Carrie Usher, a fourth-grade teacher at Sandy Hook, was having a team meeting with three other teachers while her class worked in the library. They heard gunfire and then the loudspeaker came on with "fighting and crying and maybe some screaming," sounds of chaos that she said were being broadcast throughout the building.

"The gunfire was just unbelievable it felt like it lasted for five minutes. It wouldn't stop," she said.

Three of the teachers jumped out the window of their meeting room, Ms. Usher said, while the fourth remained behind and hid behind bags and boxes. The door opened and someone came in but that person didn't see the hiding teacher.

Ms. Usher is still uncertain what was broadcast over the loudspeaker. "I think it was fighting," she said in a phone interview. "I think it was the principal before she was killed put that out there to warn the teachers what was happening. I believe so. We don't know."

—Carol E. Lee, Jared A. Favole, Tedd Mann, Jacob Gershman, Alison Fox, Stephanie Banchero, Jack Nicas and Sophia Hollander contributed to this article.
Write to Tamer El-Ghobashy at tamer.el-ghobashy@wsj.com and Devlin Barrett at devlin.barrett@wsj.com

Corrections & Amplifications
Law-enforcement officials have corrected the identity of the suspected shooter as Adam Lanza. Earlier, a law-enforcement official had incorrectly identified the suspect as Mr. Lanza's brother, Ryan.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323297104578179271453737596.html


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willowtreewren

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