US School Shootings
14th December 2012

Sandy Hook Elementary
School in the Sandy
Hook village of Newtown,
Connecticut
Key Points
 Twenty children and six adults have been killed in a
  shooting attack at a primary school in the US state of
  Connecticut.
 US media identified the gunman, who killed himself, as
  Adam Lanza - not his brother Ryan as initially reported.
 The school shooting occurred after he shot and killed his
  mother, a volunteer at the school, at their nearby
  Newtown home. It was the second-deadliest school
  shooting in U.S. history, after the 2007 Virginia Tech
  massacre.
 After shooting his mother, Nancy Lanza, age 54, Adam
  drove her car to the school. The killing of Nancy Lanza
  brought the number of victims to 27.
 President Obama says 'our hearts are broken today' as
  he pays tribute to the victims
Background of Sandy Hook
Elementary School


 The school had a total of 700 students in grades K–4.
  According to a letter sent to parents at the beginning of
  the year, the school had recently upgraded its security
  protocol, requiring visitors to be individually admitted
  after visual and identification review over a video
  monitor; the doors were locked at 9:30 am each day
  after morning arrivals
Shooting
   A troubled 20-year-old loner with a history of autistic behavior is the monster behind a
    horrific shooting

   Adam Lanza may have been admitted to the school by the principal because he was
    recognized as the son of a colleague. He was described as wearing black military-style gear,
    including a bullet-proof vest and a mask during the shootings.
   A troubled 20-year-old loner with a history of autistic behavior is the monster behind a
    horrific shooting

    He started shooting at about 9:35 a.m., approximately half an hour after the school day
    began. Some of those present reported that initial shots were heard on the school's intercom
    system, which was being used for morning announcements.
   Most of the shooting took place in two first-grade classrooms and lasted only a few minutes,
    during which time witnesses said the shooter did not say a word. He then shot himself.
   The children killed were between 5 and 10 years old.
   A custodian also ran through hallways alerting classrooms in person. First grade teacher
    Kaitlyn Roig, age 29, hid 14 of the school's approximately 450 grade K-4 students in a
    bathroom and barricaded the door, telling them to be completely quiet in order to keep them
    safe.
   Authorities recovered two 9mm handguns from the scene: one a Glock, and the other a SIG
    Sauer. A .223-caliber Bushmaster rifle (favored by deer hunters) was found in the back of a
    car in the parking lot.
   Police sources said a “mind numbing” number of spent cartridges littered the floor of the
    school.
   The guns were owned by and legally registered to Lanza's mother. As Adam Lanza was under
    21 years of age at the time of the incident, he could not legally have obtained or possessed
    either handgun in Connecticut.
   Connecticut is ranked as having the fifth-toughest gun-control laws in the country by the
    Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, with a score of 58 out of 100 points.
Response by authorities

 The state police received the first 911 call at 9:41 am and
  responded immediately.
    They and Newtown police soon recognized the gravity of
    the situation, and local K9 and tactical units, the bomb
    squad, and state police helicopter were quickly mobilized.
 Police began to evacuate the locked-down school room-by-
  room, escorting groups of students and adults away from
  the school.
    The school was swept for additional shooters at least four
    times by the police.
 No shots were fired by the authorities.
 Three injured victims were evacuated; two were later
  declared dead of their injuries.
 The New York City medical examiner dispatched a "portable
  morgue" to assist with the aftermath
 Photos from the scene showed young students - some
  crying, others looking visibly frightened - being escorted by
  adults through a car park in a line, with hands on each
  other's shoulders.
 "It was horrendous," said parent Brenda Lebinski, who
  rushed to the school where her daughter is in the third
  grade. "Everyone was in hysterics - parents, students.
  There were kids coming out of the school bloodied. I don't
  know if they were shot, but they were bloodied."
 Television images showed police and ambulances at the
  scene, and parents rushing toward the school. Parents were
  seen reuniting with their children and taking them home.
 A girl interviewed by NBC Connecticut described hearing
  seven loud "booms" as she was in gym class. Other children
  began crying and teachers moved the students to a nearby
  office, she said.
 "A police officer came in and told us to run outside and so
  we did," the unidentified girl said on camera.
TIMELINE OF A MASSACRE: HOW
       THE INVESTIGATION UNFOLDED
   Friday morning Adam Lanza leaves his home in his mother's car after 'shooting her dead'
   9.30am Classes begin at Sandy Hook Elementary School
   9.35am First 911 calls that a shooting is underway; police arrive within minutes
   9.40am Shooting underway at the school's main office and a kindergarten class
   9.45am SWAT team arrives; checks building
   10am Reports of deaths begin to trickle out; Obama is briefed
   10.30am Police announce the shooter is dead; later revealed he died from a self-inflicted
    gun wound
   12.10pm First reports mistakenly naming killer as Ryan Lanza, 24
   2.47pm President Obama orders flags to fly at half-mast
   1.08pm Reports that the death toll is at 27; at press conference, police say deaths include
    staff and students
   2pm Authorities announce a body was discovered at killer's Newtown home
   2.40pm Reports of investigation at Ryan Lanza's home in New Jersey; he writes on
    Facebook that he was not involved and is later led away for questioning
   3.17pm President Obama addresses the nation and struggles to contain his emotions
   5pm Adam Lanza is named as the shooter
   7pm Prayer vigil held at St Rose of Lima Catholic Church in Newtown; hundreds attend,
    including Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy
A TROUBLED LONER: EMERGING
    PORTRAIT OF ADAM LANZA

   Ryan Lanza's high school classmates always knew something was different about him.
   He almost never spoke in class, but made good grades and was an honors student. And he
    always seemed profoundly uncomfortable in social situations.
   A portrait is emerging of the alleged shooter who killed 26 people and himself during a rampage
    at the elementary school where his mother taught kindergarten.

   It was widely understood that he had mental disabilities - either Asperger syndrome or more
    severe autism.

   A former babysitter told the Washington Post he was 'rambunctious' as a teenager and prone to
    temper tantrums. He had to be medicated to control his moods.

   Olivia DeVivo, a student at the University of Connecticut who went to high school with Lanza,
    said that when it emerged that he was suspected of gunning down 20 small children - none of
    her classmates were surprised.

   'They said he always seemed like he was someone who was capable of that because he just
    didn’t really connect with our high school, and didn’t really connect with our town,' she told
    the New York Times
   Lamza, 20, lived with his mother Nancy in a quiet, upscale subdivision in Newtown,
    Connecticut.

   Before his alleged rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Friday, he reportedly shot his
    mother in the face at her home. He then took her car and three guns registered registered to
    her and went on a killing spree - starting with her kindergarten class, police say.
    Students described being ushered from their classrooms hand-in-hand, with their eyes closed,
    to the safety of a nearby fire station as police converged on the school.
ADAM LANZA
The family of alleged shooter Adam Lanza, including his father,
Peter, second left
President Obama’s Speech




 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIA0W69U2_Y&list=
  PL8C61A61D646F0865&index=1
ABC news coverage of the shootings
http://abcnews.go.com/US/27-people-dead-children-
connecticut-elementary-school-
shooting/story?id=17973836#.UMyVA2_ZaSo
USA News
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Pe3murLF4w


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XfEpWCqwbc
Queen Elizabeth’s Response to
Shootings
   The Queen has sent a message to US President Barack Obama, saying
    she was "deeply shocked and saddened" by the US school massacre that
    left 28 people dead, in a rare public response to the tragedy.
   In a message beginning "Dear President Obama", the 86-year-old
    monarch said: "I have been deeply shocked and saddened to learn of the
    dreadful loss of life today in Newtown, Connecticut; particularly the news
    that so many of the dead are children.“
   The queen, who never gives interviews and normally restricts her public
    comment to events in Commonwealth nations, added: "Prince Philip joins
    me in extending our heartfelt sympathy to you and the American people
    at this difficult time.
   "The thoughts and prayers of everyone in the United Kingdom and
    throughout the Commonwealth are with the families and friends of those
    killed and with all those who have been affected by today's events.“
   The message was signed Elizabeth R.
   Her words echoed those of Prime Minister David Cameron, who earlier
    said he was "shocked and deeply saddened to hear about today's horrific
    shooting".
 On the day of the attack, Google paid tribute to the
  victims by displaying an image of a candle on its
  homepage accompanied with the line "Our hearts are
  with the families and community of
  Newtown, Connecticut.
Reactions and Photos
from the Scene
 Principal Dawn Hochsprung tweeted this pic two months
  ago along with the message 'Sandy Hook gardeners
  celebrate their learning after the fall harvest!'
 Principal Hochsprung tweeted: Safety first at Sandy
  Hook... It's a beautiful day for our annual evacuation
  drill!
Victims
Dawn Hochsprung
Dawn Hochsprung, School
        principal
   Dawn led the almost 700-pupil school according to the values she had long espoused:
    inclusiveness, creativity, and academic ambition.
   As confirmation that she was among the dead circulated in the small community of Newtown,
    where the school that she had led for the past two years is one of the central pillars, there was
    an outpouring of emotion from the parents of her charges and friends. "Dawn Hochsprung
    touched many of our hearts with her professionalism and love for her students," said someone
   Dawn Czaplicki, who had known the principal since their own high school days, remembered
    her as "a mature and very smart young lady full of life and always had a smile on her face that
    could only warm your heart."
   In the two years that she led the Sandy Hook elementary, Hochsprung, 47, had emphasised its
    strong community role. When she sent memos to parents she would address them to the
    "Sandy Hook family".
   Hochsprung was ambitious for her students and for herself. On top of running the school, and
    being mother to her own two daughters and three stepdaughters, she had enrolled in a post-
    graduate programme at Esteves School of Education in New York – a prestigious course for an
    educator. She was actively introducing the latest teaching techniques into Sandy Hook
    classrooms – she recently brought together 30 teachers before the start of the school day for
    an "Appy Hour" in which they shared notes about the best iPad apps to use with students.
   But she also believed in the power of imagination and fun. The New York Times recorded that
    she had introduced a tradition of Wacky Wednesdays, when students came to school wearing
    clothes
   Hochsprung took a close interest in education policy, and would often circulate speeches by the
    education secretary, Arne Duncan.
    Her most recent activity on Twitter was the day before she died, when she retweeted a nine-
    point programme on how to relieve stress. Point one was "Have self-compassion."
Victoria Soto
Victoria Soto, First Grade Teacher
 A young teacher displayed astonishing bravery and sacrificed her
  life saving as many children in her first grade class as she could
  after she came face-to-face with gunman Adam Lanza.
 Victoria Soto, 27, had worked at Sandy Hook Elementary for five
  years. Her final moments were spent ushering her students into
  closets and cupboards. When Lanza entered her classroom Ms Soto
  said that her class was in the gym hall and then Lanza took a gun
  and shot her. All of Ms Soto’s class survived.
 Soto was a highly regarded young teacher who was popular with her
  pupils. One young student, Jacob Riley, told Mailonline that Soto
  was known for chewing gum in class - something not usually
  allowed for teachers. He said he had often teased her about her
  habit and she had playfully teased him back
 A deeply distraught 10-year-old boy who is a former student of Miss
  Soto described her as 'really nice and funny.'
Nancy Lanza
Mother of the gunman, Adam Lanza
school psychologist March Sherlach, r,
was killed after confronting the
Connecticut school gunman
Anne Marie Murphy
A teacher at the school
Lauren Rousseau
Rachel Davino
Emilie Alice Parker
Ana Marquez-Greene
Jessica Rekos
Avielle Richman
Olivia Engel, 6
Josephine Gay, 7
Olivia Rose Engel
Caroline Previdi
Grace McDonnell
Charlotte Bacon
Catherine Hubbard
Daniel Barden
Dylan Hockley
Benjamin Wheeler
James Mattioli, 6
Jack Pinto
Noah Pozner
Jesse Lewis
Chase Kowalski
Daniel Barden
May peace be with these
  innocent children and
         adults,
Who were so cruelly taken
away by a tragedy that will
 be remembered for ever.



      Rest In Peace

Sandy Hook Elementary Shooting

  • 1.
  • 2.
    14th December 2012 SandyHook Elementary School in the Sandy Hook village of Newtown, Connecticut
  • 4.
    Key Points  Twentychildren and six adults have been killed in a shooting attack at a primary school in the US state of Connecticut.  US media identified the gunman, who killed himself, as Adam Lanza - not his brother Ryan as initially reported.  The school shooting occurred after he shot and killed his mother, a volunteer at the school, at their nearby Newtown home. It was the second-deadliest school shooting in U.S. history, after the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre.  After shooting his mother, Nancy Lanza, age 54, Adam drove her car to the school. The killing of Nancy Lanza brought the number of victims to 27.  President Obama says 'our hearts are broken today' as he pays tribute to the victims
  • 5.
    Background of SandyHook Elementary School  The school had a total of 700 students in grades K–4. According to a letter sent to parents at the beginning of the year, the school had recently upgraded its security protocol, requiring visitors to be individually admitted after visual and identification review over a video monitor; the doors were locked at 9:30 am each day after morning arrivals
  • 6.
    Shooting  A troubled 20-year-old loner with a history of autistic behavior is the monster behind a horrific shooting  Adam Lanza may have been admitted to the school by the principal because he was recognized as the son of a colleague. He was described as wearing black military-style gear, including a bullet-proof vest and a mask during the shootings.  A troubled 20-year-old loner with a history of autistic behavior is the monster behind a horrific shooting  He started shooting at about 9:35 a.m., approximately half an hour after the school day began. Some of those present reported that initial shots were heard on the school's intercom system, which was being used for morning announcements.  Most of the shooting took place in two first-grade classrooms and lasted only a few minutes, during which time witnesses said the shooter did not say a word. He then shot himself.  The children killed were between 5 and 10 years old.  A custodian also ran through hallways alerting classrooms in person. First grade teacher Kaitlyn Roig, age 29, hid 14 of the school's approximately 450 grade K-4 students in a bathroom and barricaded the door, telling them to be completely quiet in order to keep them safe.  Authorities recovered two 9mm handguns from the scene: one a Glock, and the other a SIG Sauer. A .223-caliber Bushmaster rifle (favored by deer hunters) was found in the back of a car in the parking lot.  Police sources said a “mind numbing” number of spent cartridges littered the floor of the school.  The guns were owned by and legally registered to Lanza's mother. As Adam Lanza was under 21 years of age at the time of the incident, he could not legally have obtained or possessed either handgun in Connecticut.  Connecticut is ranked as having the fifth-toughest gun-control laws in the country by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, with a score of 58 out of 100 points.
  • 7.
    Response by authorities The state police received the first 911 call at 9:41 am and responded immediately.  They and Newtown police soon recognized the gravity of the situation, and local K9 and tactical units, the bomb squad, and state police helicopter were quickly mobilized.  Police began to evacuate the locked-down school room-by- room, escorting groups of students and adults away from the school.  The school was swept for additional shooters at least four times by the police.  No shots were fired by the authorities.  Three injured victims were evacuated; two were later declared dead of their injuries.  The New York City medical examiner dispatched a "portable morgue" to assist with the aftermath
  • 8.
     Photos fromthe scene showed young students - some crying, others looking visibly frightened - being escorted by adults through a car park in a line, with hands on each other's shoulders.  "It was horrendous," said parent Brenda Lebinski, who rushed to the school where her daughter is in the third grade. "Everyone was in hysterics - parents, students. There were kids coming out of the school bloodied. I don't know if they were shot, but they were bloodied."  Television images showed police and ambulances at the scene, and parents rushing toward the school. Parents were seen reuniting with their children and taking them home.  A girl interviewed by NBC Connecticut described hearing seven loud "booms" as she was in gym class. Other children began crying and teachers moved the students to a nearby office, she said.  "A police officer came in and told us to run outside and so we did," the unidentified girl said on camera.
  • 10.
    TIMELINE OF AMASSACRE: HOW THE INVESTIGATION UNFOLDED  Friday morning Adam Lanza leaves his home in his mother's car after 'shooting her dead'  9.30am Classes begin at Sandy Hook Elementary School  9.35am First 911 calls that a shooting is underway; police arrive within minutes  9.40am Shooting underway at the school's main office and a kindergarten class  9.45am SWAT team arrives; checks building  10am Reports of deaths begin to trickle out; Obama is briefed  10.30am Police announce the shooter is dead; later revealed he died from a self-inflicted gun wound  12.10pm First reports mistakenly naming killer as Ryan Lanza, 24  2.47pm President Obama orders flags to fly at half-mast  1.08pm Reports that the death toll is at 27; at press conference, police say deaths include staff and students  2pm Authorities announce a body was discovered at killer's Newtown home  2.40pm Reports of investigation at Ryan Lanza's home in New Jersey; he writes on Facebook that he was not involved and is later led away for questioning  3.17pm President Obama addresses the nation and struggles to contain his emotions  5pm Adam Lanza is named as the shooter  7pm Prayer vigil held at St Rose of Lima Catholic Church in Newtown; hundreds attend, including Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy
  • 11.
    A TROUBLED LONER:EMERGING PORTRAIT OF ADAM LANZA  Ryan Lanza's high school classmates always knew something was different about him.  He almost never spoke in class, but made good grades and was an honors student. And he always seemed profoundly uncomfortable in social situations.  A portrait is emerging of the alleged shooter who killed 26 people and himself during a rampage at the elementary school where his mother taught kindergarten.  It was widely understood that he had mental disabilities - either Asperger syndrome or more severe autism.  A former babysitter told the Washington Post he was 'rambunctious' as a teenager and prone to temper tantrums. He had to be medicated to control his moods.  Olivia DeVivo, a student at the University of Connecticut who went to high school with Lanza, said that when it emerged that he was suspected of gunning down 20 small children - none of her classmates were surprised.  'They said he always seemed like he was someone who was capable of that because he just didn’t really connect with our high school, and didn’t really connect with our town,' she told the New York Times  Lamza, 20, lived with his mother Nancy in a quiet, upscale subdivision in Newtown, Connecticut.  Before his alleged rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Friday, he reportedly shot his mother in the face at her home. He then took her car and three guns registered registered to her and went on a killing spree - starting with her kindergarten class, police say.  Students described being ushered from their classrooms hand-in-hand, with their eyes closed, to the safety of a nearby fire station as police converged on the school.
  • 12.
  • 13.
    The family ofalleged shooter Adam Lanza, including his father, Peter, second left
  • 14.
    President Obama’s Speech http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIA0W69U2_Y&list= PL8C61A61D646F0865&index=1
  • 15.
    ABC news coverageof the shootings http://abcnews.go.com/US/27-people-dead-children- connecticut-elementary-school- shooting/story?id=17973836#.UMyVA2_ZaSo USA News http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Pe3murLF4w http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XfEpWCqwbc
  • 16.
    Queen Elizabeth’s Responseto Shootings  The Queen has sent a message to US President Barack Obama, saying she was "deeply shocked and saddened" by the US school massacre that left 28 people dead, in a rare public response to the tragedy.  In a message beginning "Dear President Obama", the 86-year-old monarch said: "I have been deeply shocked and saddened to learn of the dreadful loss of life today in Newtown, Connecticut; particularly the news that so many of the dead are children.“  The queen, who never gives interviews and normally restricts her public comment to events in Commonwealth nations, added: "Prince Philip joins me in extending our heartfelt sympathy to you and the American people at this difficult time.  "The thoughts and prayers of everyone in the United Kingdom and throughout the Commonwealth are with the families and friends of those killed and with all those who have been affected by today's events.“  The message was signed Elizabeth R.  Her words echoed those of Prime Minister David Cameron, who earlier said he was "shocked and deeply saddened to hear about today's horrific shooting".
  • 17.
     On theday of the attack, Google paid tribute to the victims by displaying an image of a candle on its homepage accompanied with the line "Our hearts are with the families and community of Newtown, Connecticut.
  • 18.
  • 19.
     Principal DawnHochsprung tweeted this pic two months ago along with the message 'Sandy Hook gardeners celebrate their learning after the fall harvest!'
  • 20.
     Principal Hochsprungtweeted: Safety first at Sandy Hook... It's a beautiful day for our annual evacuation drill!
  • 31.
  • 32.
  • 33.
    Dawn Hochsprung, School principal  Dawn led the almost 700-pupil school according to the values she had long espoused: inclusiveness, creativity, and academic ambition.  As confirmation that she was among the dead circulated in the small community of Newtown, where the school that she had led for the past two years is one of the central pillars, there was an outpouring of emotion from the parents of her charges and friends. "Dawn Hochsprung touched many of our hearts with her professionalism and love for her students," said someone  Dawn Czaplicki, who had known the principal since their own high school days, remembered her as "a mature and very smart young lady full of life and always had a smile on her face that could only warm your heart."  In the two years that she led the Sandy Hook elementary, Hochsprung, 47, had emphasised its strong community role. When she sent memos to parents she would address them to the "Sandy Hook family".  Hochsprung was ambitious for her students and for herself. On top of running the school, and being mother to her own two daughters and three stepdaughters, she had enrolled in a post- graduate programme at Esteves School of Education in New York – a prestigious course for an educator. She was actively introducing the latest teaching techniques into Sandy Hook classrooms – she recently brought together 30 teachers before the start of the school day for an "Appy Hour" in which they shared notes about the best iPad apps to use with students.  But she also believed in the power of imagination and fun. The New York Times recorded that she had introduced a tradition of Wacky Wednesdays, when students came to school wearing clothes  Hochsprung took a close interest in education policy, and would often circulate speeches by the education secretary, Arne Duncan.  Her most recent activity on Twitter was the day before she died, when she retweeted a nine- point programme on how to relieve stress. Point one was "Have self-compassion."
  • 34.
  • 35.
    Victoria Soto, FirstGrade Teacher  A young teacher displayed astonishing bravery and sacrificed her life saving as many children in her first grade class as she could after she came face-to-face with gunman Adam Lanza.  Victoria Soto, 27, had worked at Sandy Hook Elementary for five years. Her final moments were spent ushering her students into closets and cupboards. When Lanza entered her classroom Ms Soto said that her class was in the gym hall and then Lanza took a gun and shot her. All of Ms Soto’s class survived.  Soto was a highly regarded young teacher who was popular with her pupils. One young student, Jacob Riley, told Mailonline that Soto was known for chewing gum in class - something not usually allowed for teachers. He said he had often teased her about her habit and she had playfully teased him back  A deeply distraught 10-year-old boy who is a former student of Miss Soto described her as 'really nice and funny.'
  • 36.
    Nancy Lanza Mother ofthe gunman, Adam Lanza
  • 37.
    school psychologist MarchSherlach, r, was killed after confronting the Connecticut school gunman
  • 38.
    Anne Marie Murphy Ateacher at the school
  • 39.
  • 40.
  • 41.
  • 42.
  • 43.
  • 44.
  • 45.
  • 46.
  • 47.
  • 48.
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  • 57.
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  • 59.
  • 60.
  • 61.
    May peace bewith these innocent children and adults, Who were so cruelly taken away by a tragedy that will be remembered for ever. Rest In Peace