Conn. gunman broke in, shot kids multiple times

Updated Dec. 16, 2012, 12:14 AM ET

NEWTOWN, Conn. The gunman behind the Connecticut elementary school massacre stormed into the building and shot 20 children at least twice with a high-powered rifle, executing some at close range and killing adults who tried to stop the carnage, authorities said Saturday.

Adam Lanza, 20, who used three weapons to shoot 26 people dead.

/ Rex Features via AP Images

He forced his way into the school by breaking a window, officials said. Asked whether the children suffered, Chief Medical Examiner Dr. H. Wayne Carver paused. "If so," he said, "not for very long."

The terrible details about the last moments of young innocents emerged as authorities released their names and ages — the youngest 6 and 7, the oldest 56. They included Ana Marquez-Greene, a little girl who had just moved to Newtown from Canada; Victoria Soto, a 27-year-old teacher who apparently died while trying to hide her pupils; and principal Dawn Hochsprung, who authorities said lunged at the gunman in an attempt to overtake him and paid with her life.

The tragedy has plunged Newtown into mourning and added the picturesque New England community of handsome Colonial homes, red-brick sidewalks and 27,000 people to the grim map of towns where mass shootings in recent years have periodically reignited the national debate over gun control but led to little change.

Faced with the unimaginable, townspeople sadly took down some of their Christmas decorations and struggled Saturday with how to go on. Signs around town read, "Hug a teacher today," "Please pray for Newtown" and "Love will get us through."

• Conn. school shooter had 4 weapons
• List of Conn. school shooting victims
• Shooting witness: Kids said "I can't go back to that school"
• All Conn. shooting victims hit multiple times

"People in my neighborhood are feeling guilty about it being Christmas. They are taking down decorations," said Jeannie Pasacreta, a psychologist who was advising parents struggling with how to talk to their children.

School board chairwoman Debbie Leidlein spent Friday night meeting with parents who lost children and shivered as she recalled those conversations. "They were asking why. They can't wrap their minds around it. Why? What's going on?" she said. "And we just don't have any answers for them."

The tragedy brought forth soul-searching and grief around the globe. President Barack Obama planned to visit Newtown on Sunday. Families as far away as Puerto Rico planned funerals for victims who still had their baby teeth, world leaders extended condolences, and vigils were held around the U.S.

"Next week is going to be horrible," said the town's legislative council chairman, Jeff Capeci, thinking about the string of funerals the town will face. "Horrible, and the week leading into Christmas."

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Bodies of Conn. shooting victims being returned to families

Police shed no light on what triggered Adam Lanza, 20, to carry out the second-deadliest school shooting in U.S. history, though state police Lt. Paul Vance said investigators had found "very good evidence ... that our investigators will be able to use in painting the complete picture, the how and, more importantly, the why." He would not elaborate.

However, another law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said investigators have found no note or manifesto from Lanza of the sort they have come to expect after murderous rampages such as the Virginia Tech bloodbath in 2007 that left 33 people dead.

Lanza shot to death his mother, Nancy Lanza, at the home they shared, then drove to the school in her car with at least three of her guns, forced his way in and opened fire, authorities said. Within minutes, he killed 20 children, six adults and himself.

39 Photos

Victims of Conn. school shooting

Education officials said they had found no link between Lanza's mother and the school, contrary to news reports that said she was a teacher there. Investigators said they believe Adam Lanza attended Sandy Hook Elementary many years ago, but they had no explanation for why he went there Friday.

A nurse who had been with the school for 15 years, told CBS News' Scott Pelley that no one knows Nancy Lanza and that she was not a staff teacher, after earlier reports said Nancy Lanza worked at the school. The nurse said its conceivable that Nancy Lanza was a substitute that she never met, but very unlikely. No other staff member the nurse has talked to has ever heard of Nancy Lanza. The nurse also knows of no connection between the shooter and the school.

CBS News correspondent John Miller reported on what happened when Adam Lanza was inside the school during the shooting: The first police officer on the scene was confronted by the glass window that Lanza had shot his way through to get past the locked door. The officer advanced into the school and saw the gunman, from a great distance down a long hallway, perhaps a couple of hundred feet. The gunman, dressed all in black, spotted the officer and ducked into a room off the hallway.

Officials are on the scene outside of Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., where authorities say a gunman opened fire inside an elementary school in a shooting that left 27 people dead, including 18 children, Friday, Dec. 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

/ Julio Cortez

As the officer, now joined by a partner began to rush down the hall toward the gunman they heard a volley of shots. When they got there, they found the gunman, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Just beyond the gunman, in a classroom, children huddled together, and their teacher, all of them shot multiple times. Nearby, in a bathroom another group of children, huddled together, all shot multiple times. As the officers ran down the hallway, they heard several shots. It appears that the gunman let go a last volley of shots at his victims before killing himself with a single bullet to the head.

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Piecing together Adam Lanza

There is an unconfirmed report that Lanza was involved in an altercation with school staffers the day before the shooting. Miller spoke to a law enforcement source regarding that report. The source said what they are focused on was there was some kind of argument between people in the office, and the people in the office of that school are dead. The source said the key is to figure out if Lanza was part of that, present for it or somehow involved. Additionally, the source said right now they have any indication Lanza was, but he said they have to run that out it make sure.

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Most Conn. massacre victims first-graders

Authorities said Adam Lanza had no criminal history, and it was not clear whether he had a job. Lanza was believed to have suffered from a personality disorder, said a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Another law enforcement official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said Lanza had been diagnosed with Asperger's, a mild form of autism often characterized by social awkwardness. People with the disorder are often highly intelligent. While they can become frustrated more easily, there is no evidence of a link between Asperger's and violent behavior, experts say.

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[stunnednconcerned]

I seriously think that people are missing the obvious here. Something set this event into motion, something triggered him to go from going his whole life without violence to this, and I think when they figure out what that was, which I think I have an idea, I hope new regulations and laws will be put in place to ensure this kind of thing can be avoided or cut off at the head. I also hope that it leads to some understanding as to why his targets were elementary students and not middle school or high school students. All I am going to say, is that all parents that haven't secretly listened in on their children that are allowed to game online, should do so, secretly. You might be shocked as to who they really are when you aren't there.

[nanabeck1996]

Okay people I have to RANT now.....

I so want all the Newspeople and Pundits to STOP calling what happened in Conneticut a tragedy! Look up the definition of tragedy: ..... a sad or calamitous event, or distress.
Look up calamity: misfortune, disaster, affliction, mischance,distress, misery.

This was NOT a TRAGEDY! This was MASS Murder! Call it what it is! It was caused by a mentally unstable person who INTENDED to do this. It was not misfortune or mischance! There was INTENT!!!! MURDER, pure and simple!!!!!!!

[michael4yah]

This was not the acts of a troubled youth. He was a devoted Communist/Anarchist as posted in his own facebook page. Facebook and the media are trying to cover this up but enough of us copied his page before it disappeared. Take a look and pass it on:
http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/3611_423506811050933_1150852840_n.jpg

[skeezix06]

Actually, Michael, your photo doesn't look anything like Adam Lanza; wrong hair color for one thing. If anything, it more closely resembles a photo shop of Ryan Lanza's head on someone else's body with a tattooed wrist.

[foo8259]

On August 1st 1996 these random shootings first started, followed since by many modern day copycats. Charles "Texas Tower" Whitman first killed his mother then his wife before starting his tower shooting rampage. He had a brain tumor that drove him mad. Perhaps this current animal should have a necropsy as well?

wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Whitman

[michael4yah]

http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/3611_423506811050933_1150852840_n.jpg

[Birdman04]

If you think more gun control would have prevented this tragedy, you are full of crap as a Christmas turkey.

If you think arming the entire population would have prevented this tragedy, you are also full of crap as a Christmas turkey.

Until we do more to keep weapons out of the hands of criminals, the mentally ill and those that mean us harm we are headed in a downward spiral with a very bad ending.

[edisymbola]

More gun control might not have stopped this particular tragedy, but it would reduce the number of this kind of tragedy.

"Weapons don't kill. Only people do." I keep hearing this kind of talk from gun zealots. The question is how far you can push this argument. RPGs don't kill. It's people who use them do. Then why not legalize RPGs? The bigger the firepower, the more havoc it's going to wreak. It is as simple as that. Just as we don't want nuclear proliferation, we don't want the proliferation of high power rifles.

Tell me. How many people have actually used their AK or AR for self-defense? They just blast these assault rifles for fun. Or they get paranoid, thinking that they need these to fight tyranny. Get real. We don't live in the colonial days where you stood a chance with a muzzleloader against the British. Your AK or AR stands zero chance against a government with Abrams tank and Apache helicopter. If the government decides to go all the way to squash citizens' uprising, an AK or an AR is absolutely useless.

If that is the case, then your right to bear arms does not extend to owning assault rifles for fun. If you think your fun could justify the killing of these 20 innocent 6- and 7-year olds, then you have to have your head examined.

Confiscate and ban all assault rifles. Citizens should only be allowed to own handguns at the very best, under extremely stringent circumstances. It will not stop all mass killings, but it will sure reduce the number of these strategies.

[varigdc10]

Don't understand why there is a need for autopsies. These little angels and all the adults already suffered the ultimate pain and agony, they died because bullets snuffed their lives, we all know the cause of death, just leave them in peace.

[foo8259]

I think they should autopsy the perp, provided he has enough brain tissue left, and look for any signs of an organic brain disease.

[michael4yah]

FOO, yeah he had a disease. It's called Communism?Anarchism. Look at his facebook page:
http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/3611_423506811050933_1150852840_n.jpg

[Sidney67]

Drugs are the problem, prescribed ones. Psych meds are not proven to help and are proven to cause suicidal thoughts and actions. There is no motive. The guy was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome which is shyness. All human emotions have become disorders and diseases that psychiatrists make $ on by seeing the patient and prescribing the harmful pills that alter their minds.

The truth is on this website cchr.org

[skeezix06]

Actually Asperger's Syndrome is not shyness. They call autism a spectrum because children can exhibit varying degrees of the disability; worse in some areas, not as bad in others. They don't always fit nicely and neatly under a single diagnosis. Medication is not necessarily prescribed because most of them are not aggressive

A couple of informative links if you're interested.
http://www.webmd.com/brain/autism/tc/aspergers-syndrome-symptoms
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/asperger/detail_asperger.htm

[GossamerWings]

SKEEZIX06

I heard he had Autism with personality disorder and he couldn't feel pain. Do you have anything on that? Can you give more input?

[Rick_Carter1]

CORRECTION (sorry, typo)

(Once again, I strongly believe that all children need and deserve a physical and psychological checkup each year of their development. This is one of the very best ways to head OFF these tragic incidents before they happen.) - Rick Carter

[Rick_Carter1]

(This is actually one of the best ways to keep our society's medical costs low, by catching medical problems early before they become costly to treat. In other words, it should really pay for itself over the long haul.) - RC

[tvwatcher5345]

the second amendment does not say you have the right to bear guns, it says you have the right to bear arms, so that means as a citizen we have the right to bear nuclear "arms", i think criminals will think twice if they know the public has nuclear arms

[Rick_Carter1]

Excellent hyperbole. The right to bear arms does not necessarily mean firearms, or nuclear arms either. It just means you have the right to arm yourself with something, and it is really up to the society we all need to live in to decide what that something should be. - RC

[Rick_Carter1]

It is way too 'pat' to simply to call this tragic act "evil". We will be doing society a grave disservice by dismissing this tragic incident in this glib manner. This tragic incident needs the full attention of our psychological community if our world is to learn what they need to from it. - RC

[Rick_Carter1]

(Once again, I strongly believe that all children need and deserve a physical and psychological checkup each year of their development. This is one of the very best ways to head of these tragic incidents before they happen.) - RC

[ForestWalk]

When I opened the paper today it broke my soul all over again. How do we make this not happen again. The school had procedures in place - the killer had to shot a window to get into the school - the principal and another administrator stood up to the gunman and were shot down - . The only two variables under public control were access to the weapons and health care for the individual.

[harishtek]

I do not know why we can not take first step to reduce guns & bullets.
We must have extra tax to create a fund of $0.50 per Bullet purchased, a minimum of $100 per gun based upon type of gun.
For assault rifles this amount should be increased to $1000
Put a penalty for shipping guns and bullets
Stop gun sales at the shows without background check

Amount raised will cover cost of additional law enforcement officials, medical costs of victims, compensation for victims

This will still be within our laws to own a gun

I also feel punishment for the crime should be harsher than the crime