8/30/2015
Grisly details in Sandy Hook elementary shooting - NY Daily News
Grisly details in Sandy Hook elementary shooting The Connecticut mass murderer used an assault rifle to slaughter his 26 victims at a school, spraying dozens of bullets into a helpless group of firstgraders and staff, officials said Saturday. The grisly details of killer Adam Lanza’s gory rampage emerged one day after the shooter unleashed the seconddeadliest school killing in U.S. history. The tiny victims were riddled with as many as 11 bullets. All were shot multiple times. Lanza forced his way inside the Sandy Hook Elementary School and opened fire with a .223caliber Bushmaster rifle — which can fire up to six bullets per second. The blackclad killer, at the end of a long hallway, spotted police as they entered the school and ducked into a room, CBS reported Saturday. A volley of shots rang out as two officers ran down the hall. They found Lanza dead from a selfinflicted gunshot, and beyond him a group of children huddled with their teacher, all dead. Nearby in a bathroom another group of children huddled, also dead, CBS reported. Police are looking into the possibility that Lanza had a fourth weapon stashed in a car behind the school — an expensive hightech Russian shotgun called a Saiga, CBS said. The victims were shot “all over,” said Connecticut state Medical Examiner Wayne Carter. “All over . . . this is probably the worst I’ve ever seen.” Sixteen of the slain students were 6yearolds, four were 7. Victim Josephine Gay, one of a dozen slain girls, celebrated her seventh birthday just three days before Lanza walked into her classroom. The father of 6yearold Emilie Parker, choking back tears, recalled his “bright, creative, very loving” daughter at a news conference during which he sent condolences to the family of the killer. “I can’t imagine how hard this must be for them,” said Robert Parker. “I’m not mad.” Peter Lanza, the shooter’s dad, said he is heartbroken. “We are in a state of disbelief and trying to find whatever answers we can. We too are asking why,” he wrote. Relatives of Lanza’s slain exwife, Nancy, 54, also released a statement, saying, “Our hearts and prayers are with those who share in this loss.” ADAM LANZA, 20YEAROLD KILLER, WAS A 'DEEPLY DISTURBED' KID Investigators searching around the clock for a motive uncovered “very good evidence” inside the school and the nearby home where Lanza, 20, fatally shot his mother, said Connecticut State Police Lt. J. Paul Vance. Without going into detail, Vance said the findings will help “in painting the complete picture — the how and, more importantly, the why.” He rebuffed a report that Lanza fought with teachers inside the Newtown elementary school one day before showing up dressed in black camouflage and a militarystyle vest. The names of the victims were made public after family members identified their loved ones from photos taken inside the school where they were gunned down. The bodies were then released. While the nation and President Obama have been reduced to tears, the pain in Newtown verges on the unbearable. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/hunt-motive-sandy-hook-elementary-shooting-article-1.1220914
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8/30/2015
Grisly details in Sandy Hook elementary shooting - NY Daily News
“Words really cannot express what a special boy Daniel was . . . a constant source of laughter and joy. He earned his ripped jeans and missing two front teeth. Despite that, he was, as his mother said, ‘Just so good.’ He embodied everything that is wholesome and innocent in the world. Our hearts break over losing him,” said the Barden family of their 7yearold son, Daniel. Jennifer and Matthew Hubbard grieved for their impish, 6 yearold redhead, Catherine Violet. “Pray for us and the other families,” they said in an email. Sportsloving Chase Kowalski, the 7yearold baby of his family, leaves behind two older sisters. “He was an amazing little boy,” said one neighbor. “He was biking in his yard all the time. . . . He loved to run and bike. ” The neighbor was with the Kowalskis when they received the news.“It was just awful,” she said. “It’s your worst nightmare. Nobody deserves this.” Family Photo/AP Noah Pozner, 6, was one of the victims in the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting in Newtown, Conn. on Dec. 14, 2012. (picture from Nov. 13, 201) Tales of heroism among the slain school staff emerged from the inexplicable bloodbath. Principal Dawn Hochsprung, 47, was blasted when she lunged at Lanza in a bid to disarm the killer. Murdered in a classroom was firstgrade teacher Victoria Soto, who threw herself in front of the gunman’s bullets to spare several kids from certain death. A nextdoor neighbor at Soto’s Stratford, Conn., home recalled her as “beautiful” and helpful. “She helped me do the yard,” the neighbor said Saturday. “When she noticed I was sick, she helped me.” Soto, 27, was one of three teachers killed inside the school, along with the principal and Mary Sherlach, a school psychologist. At a candlelight vigil attended by some Newtown families Saturday, 6yearold Sam Stolz said his firstgrade teacher, Kaitlin Roig, barricaded his class in a bathroom when the shooting started. “She put a shelf in front of the door. We closed Courtesy of the Barden Family Shooting victim, 7yearold Daniel Barden the door and we locked it,” the boy said. When police arrived, they slid a badge under the door but Roig still refused to open it. Anne Haddad, 45, of Sandy Hook, said her daughter’s secondgrade teacher, Abigail Clemments, who is Jewish, calmed the kids by focusing them on Christmas. “She huddled the kids in a corner and she sang Christmas carols and read books to the children because she didn’t want them to be nervous,” said Haddad. Autopsies were still pending on the bodies of the killer and his mother, Nancy. Local bartender Mike Agius said the slain woman “liked sports.” Agius, 26, who works at My Place said, “She would talk to anyone.” While Nancy Lanza spoke about her son Ryan, 24, of Hoboken, N.J., she had virtually nothing to say about the 20yearold who lived with her. “She never mentioned her youngest son,” said Agius. “Just her oldest one.” The weapons used in the killings were all registered to Nancy Lanza. Her body was found in her bed, police sources told the Hartford Courant. Contrary to earlier reports, Lanza never worked at Sandy Hook.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/hunt-motive-sandy-hook-elementary-shooting-article-1.1220914
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