26 dead at Conn. School shooting

[dazed&confused]

By Miguel Llanos, NBC News
Updated at 1 p.m. ET:

Twenty-six people were killed, including 18 children, when a gunman opened fire in a Connecticut elementary school Friday morning, a law enforcement official said.

The gunman, who is dead, was a 20-year-old from Connecticut, an official said. He was wearing all black and was carrying two 9mm handguns.


The incident sent crying children spilling into the school parking lot as frightened parents waited for word on their loved ones.

"I was in the gym and I heard a loud, like seven loud booms, and the gym teachers told us to go in the corner, so we all huddled," one student at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown told NBC Connecticut during its live broadcast. "And I kept hearing these booming noises. And we all … started crying.

"All the gym teachers told us to go into the office where no one could find us," she added. "So then a police officer came in and told us to run outside. So we did and we came in the firehouse and waited for our parents."

Two 9mm handguns were recovered from the scene, an official told WNBC's Jonathan Dienst.

Three people were taken to nearby Danbury Hospital, a spokeswoman told NBC Connecticut. She would not elaborate on the ages of the victims or their conditions.

One of those taken to the hospital was a teacher who had been shot in the foot, the Associated Press reported, citing a dispatcher at the Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps.

The Newtown Bee reported that one child, apparently wounded, was carried from the scene by a police officer.

In a photo taken by the Bee, crying students could be seen being escorted from the school by police. They were taken to a nearby fire station where their parents were picking them up.

A third-grader, Alexis Wasik, told the Hartford Courant that police checked students and staffers before they were escorted to the fire station.

"We had to walk with a partner," she said.

NBC Connecticut reported that the entire school district was in lockdown.

At Sandy Hook, police, ATF and FBI agents were going room to room searching the school.

President Obama was notified about the shooting and continues to receive updates, according to a White House official.

Newtown is about 45 miles southwest of Hartford and 60 miles northeast of New York City.

The K-4 school has about 600 students.

NBC's Pete Williams and WNBC's Jonathan Dienst contributed to this report.

[NYBuckeye96]

Disgusting!!!!!!!!

We need a major overhaul of gun laws. This sh*t goes down all the time now.

[dazed&confused]

I'll withhold my thoughts for now! It's too early to say what the motivation was or the state of mind of the shooter. But clearly this issue must be addressed.

[TRENCHFOOT]

What is this world coming to? This is an awful/terrible tragedy!! How could anybody shoot children? Motivation/state of mind is out of the question. A dead minded/evil driven psycho path is more like it.

[C-Bolt]

Big daddy will be coming to get your gun soon trench,better find a good hiding spot.

[kantuckyII]

No one knows what happened or why (yet).....you can't offer solutions till you find out what the problem was/is. The only thing we do know right now is some sick twisted person(s?) allowed Satan into his heart and done one of the most hideous acts in our nation's history. The gun was the tool they chose to commit their twisted acts

This nation is messed up right now. Kids are raised to not hear about God, a God they have to answer to one day. Drugs run rampant. Violence is at every turn, they view it on video games and television shows every day. Absent parents/split homes..the total breakup of the family. Music?! Rap music talks about killing people all the time, they hear this over and over and it's driven into their subconscious.

[TRENCHFOOT]

Yeah, and it's evil driven people that cause good minded law abiding citizens to pay for their crimes. But thats beside the point at this time Bolt. Children have died because of this nut case. Imagine being the parents of these kids that parished.

[kantuckyII]

I have imagined, it's a terrible thing to think about! I really can't imagine the horror and the shock being felt.

[C-Bolt]

Just giving you early warning trench,I know this was a tragedy ,but this along with others will affect everybody I'm afraid,even the repub's are starting to sour on guns for everybody.I don't personally think it would do any good to ban all guns the bad people will still get their hands on them just like drugs.

[kantuckyII]

They're NOT going to ban guns. Nor are they going to take them away. There are millions upon millions of law abiding gun carrying citizens in this country who have permits (sadly, none of them were there to greet this punk early on) and crime rates actually fall when CCW are issued.

The gun was just a tool that was used by a fool. The task at hand now is to keep the tools away from the fools!

[TRENCHFOOT]

I have imagined, it's a terrible thing to think about! I really can't imagine the horror and the shock being felt.

Yep.

[kantuckyII]

They're saying he was 24 years old. His mother taught at the school and they have now found his mom among the dead. At least she doesn't have to live with what her son did

[TRENCHFOOT]

Just giving you early warning trench,I know this was a tragedy ,but this along with others will affect everybody I'm afraid,even the repub's are starting to sour on guns for everybody.I don't personally think it would do any good to ban all guns the bad people will still get their hands on them just like drugs.

Yep. I know what ya ment. I thought about it as soon as i seen it on tv. Good people will be the ones that pay probably.

[dazed&confused]

You can't take guns away from people. You can't stop tragedies like this from occuring. But lot's of law abiding folks also have cars. Guess what, they have to be registered. And if you buy a car, it has to be recorded. And if you violate certain laws or kill someone with a car, your license is taken away.

[ManitouDan]

turned my stomach to read this , I was told 2 children died about an hour ago from a parent at our HS , to read 26 is just hard . makes me ill

[dazed&confused]

Supposedly the school had restrictions on people getting access during school hours. I know his mother was a teacher and he may have targeted her. Maybe the staff knew him. But how does a person dressed in combat garb with bullet-proof vest and multiple automatic weapons just walk in and start shooting away?

[kantuckyII]

I cannot imagine how in the world any human could point a gun at a small child like these and repeatedly pull that trigger. Their screams and cries must have been deafening.

The Bible talking about man says about his heart: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?"

How many times do you hear someone say, I can't believe that person done that. Sure, he was odd but nothing that would imagine he could do that. Deceitful and wicked!


How I so look forward to Christ establishing His Kingdom here on earth and ruling this planet with a rod of iron!

[kantuckyII]

This is a hard thought...but I think I'm going to say it anyway. If Abortion is murder (and I believe it is) are the souls of the children killed in the clinics viewed any differently than those that went to God today? Is God's wrath any less kindled?!

[F-4 Phantom]

Never miss an opportunity to turn a tragedy into something political. That's all the guy knows. Clint Eastwood was 100% correct! Where was all this emotion for those who were murdered in Benghazi, begging for their lives, begging this guy for support. Libs in hollywood, the ACLU and those who have propped up these gangsta rappers have blood on their hands. YOU have glorified the killing of innocent and made it sport through your senseless movies and music. YOU have created a generation of nutcases and YOU continually blame others for what YOU have created! How absurd!!

[NYBuckeye96]

Never miss an opportunity to turn a tragedy into something political. That's all the guy knows. Clint Eastwood was 100% correct! Where was all this emotion for those who were murdered in Benghazi, begging for their lives, begging this guy for support. Libs in hollywood, the ACLU and those who have propped up these gangsta rappers have blood on their hands. YOU have glorified the killing of innocent and made it sport through your senseless movies and music. YOU have created a generation of nutcases and YOU continually blame others for what YOU have created! How absurd!!

Seriously? Just goes to show that the far right still doesn't get it! And never will. Oh well, their days are numbered. All that you destroy we will build again.