Dec 17, 2012

NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) – America is failing to keep its children safe. That grim assessment came from President Barack Obama at a vigil in Newtown, Connecticut, for the 20 children and six adults who were killed in Friday’s gunfire at an elementary school. There were cries and sobs from those attending the vigil as Obama read the first names of the children who died. One man said, “That’s when it really hit home.”

DANBURY, Conn. (AP) — A spokesman for Western Connecticut State University says the man identified as the gunman who killed 26 children and adults in an elementary school took college classes when he was only 16.

Paul Steinmetz, spokesman for the Danbury school, confirmed today that Adam Lanza earned a 3.26 grade point average while a student there. He dropped out of a German language class and withdrew from a computer science class, but earned an A in a computer class, A-minus in American history and B in macroeconomics.

Steinmetz says Lanza was among a small group of 16-year-olds among the school’s 5,000 undergraduates.

The Hartford Courant and The Wall Street Journal first reported Lanza’s academic record at Western Connecticut State.

Steinmetz says Lanza took his last class in the summer of 2009 and didn’t return.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Joe Manchin, a lifelong member of the National Rifle Association, says it’s time to discuss gun policy and move toward action on gun regulation following the school shooting in Connecticut that killed 20 children.

The conservative West Virginia Democrat said Monday he agrees with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has advocated banning the sale of assault weapons.

Manchin tells MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” says he is a “proud outdoorsman and hunter, but this doesn’t make sense.”

He is the most prominent gun rights advocate to speak publicly in the wake of the shooting.

  NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) – It could have been even worse. Authorities say the gunman in the Connecticut school shooting had been carrying hundreds of rounds of especially deadly ammunition. Adam Lanza apparently killed himself as he heard police closing in on the classroom where he was killing helpless children.

NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) — The nurse at Sandy Hook Elementary School says she and the school secretary stayed hidden in a supply closet for almost four hours after the Connecticut school massacre had ended, leaving 20 children and six adults dead.

 

Dec 14, 2012

NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP Dec 14, 2012) – An official with knowledge of a shooting at a Connecticut elementary school says 26 people are dead, including 20 children.
 
     The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is still under way.
 
     State police Lt. Paul Vance says only that staff and students at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown are among the victims. He says the shooter was dead in the school.
 
     Vance says Newtown police called state police around 9:40 a.m. Friday.  A SWAT team was among the throngs of police to respond to the school, about 60 miles northeast of New York City.
 
     Photos from the scene showed young students – some crying, others looking visibly frightened – being escorted by adults through a parking lot in a line, hands on each other’s shoulders.

WASHINGTON (AP) – As a father, President Barack Obama says, he’s grieving for the victims of today’s school shooting in Connecticut.
 
     His remarks to the nation from the White House today were emotional ones, as Obama wiped his eyes and had to pause for several seconds to keep his composure.
 
     He said, “Our hearts are broken today.” Obama said the victims were “beautiful, little kids” who “had their entire lives ahead of them” — and he recited future milestones lost: “birthdays, graduations, weddings, kids of their own.”
 
     Obama called for “meaningful action” to prevent such shootings, but he did not say what that action should be. He ordered U.S. flags be flown at half-staff through Tuesday.
 
     As he spoke, two senior aides standing nearby cried and held hands.
 
     Obama, who began his comments with no greeting, ended them with words of Scripture, and walked away in silence.