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Hundreds pack Conn. church for vigil after rampage
Updated 11:39 PM ET
NEWTOWN, Conn. Twenty-six candles — one for each of the victims — flickered on the altar Friday as hundreds of grief-stricken residents gathered for a vigil in memory of the children and staff killed in a shooting rampage at a school in this Connecticut town.
With the church filled to capacity, hundreds spilled outside, holding hands in circles in the cold night air and saying prayers. Others sang "Silent Night" or huddled near the windows of St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic church.
"Many of us today and in the coming days will rely on what we have been taught and what we believe, that there is faith for a reason," Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said at the vigil Mass.
- Complete coverage of gunman's rampage in Newtown, Connecticut
- 20 children, 6 adults killed in Conn. massacre
The residents were gathered to mourn those whose lives were lost when a 20-year-old man killed his mother at their home, then descended on Sandy Hook Elementary School, opening fire as youngsters cowered in fear amid the sounds of gunshots and screams. Twenty children were among the 26 dead at the school.
The shooter, Adam Lanza, armed with at least two handguns, committed suicide, authorities said.
Even though there were 26 candles on the altar, Monsignor Robert Weiss said it was important to remember everyone who died, including Lanza and his mother.
"Ours is not to judge or to question," he told reporters after the service. "But we are really holding in our hearts especially the children and the staff of the school."
"These 20 children were just beautiful, beautiful children," Weiss said. "These 20 children lit up this community better than all these Christmas lights we have. ... There are a lot brighter stars up there tonight because of these kids."
Weiss said he spent much of the day trying to console those who had lost a child or other family member, adding that he had no answers for their questions of how something so horrible could happen.
But through their sorrow, some parents found solace in remembering their loved ones, he said. One father whose son was killed recalled how his boy had made his first soccer goal this year.
Some parents said they struggled with mixed emotions after their own children survived the massacre that took so many young lives.
After receiving word of the shooting, Tracy Hoekenga said she was paralyzed with fear for her two boys, fourth-grader C.J. and second-grader Matthew.
"I couldn't breathe. It's indescribable. For a half an hour, 45 minutes, I had no idea if my kids were OK," she said.
Matthew said a teacher ordered him and other students to their cubbies, and a police officer came and told them to line up and close their eyes.
"They said there could be bad stuff. So we closed our eyes and we went out. When we opened our eyes, we saw a lot of broken glass and blood on the ground," he said.
David Connors, whose triplets attend the school, said his children were told to hide in a closet during the lockdown.
"My son said he did hear some gunshots, as many as 10," he said. "The questions are starting to come out: `Are we safe? Is the bad guy gone?"'
At the vigil, Newtown High School freshman Claudia Morris, 14, said students had gathered in the school hallways after the massacre, asking each other, "Are you all right? Are you all right?"
"No one has answers to why this happened," she said. "It just seems so unreal."
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What really needs to be done is:
1. If parents are incapable or unwilling to recognize that they raised a nut, society (schools, neighbors, relatives) must step in and lock'em up where sun don't shine.
2. Shift government spending from welfare to institutions that provide long term care for nut cases.
3. Open mandatory schools security positions and to hire armed guards.
4. Conceal carry permits should be given out without limitations.If one of the teachers in school had a weapon, maybe they would end his misery sooner.
5. Mental evaluation should be done by qualified professional at the time of applying for driver license.
The public perception, often by other 20 year olds, is that society is populated by "creepy old guys" who do these things, or else "crazed veterans".
But here we have young people striking out violently as if they had a deep trauma that lead then to kill.
What could possibly be happening to a person living only 2 decades to make they behave as if there is no tomorrow and everyone from a 1st grader on up is a 2 dimensional target on an LCD?
My own father is an atheist but he would never use this kind of language and opportunity to attack God. He has his beliefs and as all of us are, he is allowed to have them. The majority of this country and this World believe in a God but nobody on here is trying to convert you. So if you wish, keep using your constitutional right to spew this vile hatred but the more you do the more you expose what kind of person you are and unfortunately what kind of motives most atheists have.
God Bless.
If they bullets were expensive there would not be any where near the amount of people hurt or killed as are currently. There would not be innocent bystanders. Or mass shootings. Plainly because they couldnt afford it! Im not saying it a hundered percent fix by all means. But its much better than "Gun" control in my opinion.
$1000 a bullet.........
For those that say if we take away the guns things like this will not happen, YOU COULDN'T BE MORE WRONG. These kinds of things have been happening for a long time and will continue to happen, with or without guns. Look up the Bath Michigan massacre. The perpetrator in this incident didn't shoot anyone, but 44 people dead ( 38 children, 2 teachers, 4 other adults) and 58 wounded at a school. Or the man in China today who injured 22 school children & teachers with a knife. Mentally deranged or evil people will always find a way to carry out the most heinous acts. No guns , no problem . They will just use something else. Gasoline, knives, poison, clubs, explosives.
What if one or more of the faculty had been carrying a concealed gun?
Do you think the gunman would have made it to all the children?
It's okay to expect there to be an undercover guard at our bank, to protect our money.
It's okay to expect an undercover guard at our department stores to protect the merchandise.
But we won't protect our most valuable commodity.
To those that raise the constitutional issue, with the "we need to rethink what right to bear arms means" or "the supreme court should just take away that right" . The children and teachers in that school had that right taken away.