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Children in Connecticut rampage, all 6 and 7, shot repeatedly
Dressed in 'cute kid stuff,' all 20 kids died when a heavily armed 20-year-old gunman forced his way into their school, Sandy Hook Elementary, and shot them and six women in an act of violence that has shattered their once-tranquil suburban town. US school shooting: 20 children among 28 killed
Twelve girls and eight boys. One had celebrated her seventh birthday just four days before her death. They included Charlotte and Jack, Noah and Grace.
Dressed in "cute kid stuff," all 20 died when a heavily armed 20-year-old gunman forced his way into their school, Sandy Hook Elementary, and shot them and six women in an act of violence that has shattered their once-tranquil suburban town.
"They were first-graders," said Connecticut chief medical examiner Dr H Wayne Carver II, before releasing the names of all the victims of the school shootings on Saturday.
Asked to describe the attack, Carver, who oversaw the autopsies of all the victims and conducted many himself, called it "the worst I have seen."
The shooter, identified by law enforcement officials as Adam Lanza, killed his mother Nancy on Friday, then drove to the school where he gunned down another 26 people before taking his own life in one of the deadliest mass shootings in US history.
He fired a rifle, shooting his victims multiple times. Parents identified their children through pictures, a process intended to minimize their shock, Carver said.
Members of the close-knit community went into public mourning on Saturday as the depth of the tragedy became clear.
"I don't know how to get through something like this," said Robbie Parker, a 30-year-old physician's assistant whose 6-year-old daughter Emilie was among the dead.
"My wife and I don't understand how to process this and how to get our lives going," Parker told reporters. The oldest of his three kids, Emilie, "could just light up a room," he said.
Police did not officially identify Lanza or his mother, but his father on Saturday issued a statement saying he too was struggling to understand his son's actions.
"No words can truly express how heartbroken we are," Peter Lanza said. "We are in a state of disbelief and trying to find whatever answers we can."
While Americans have seen many mass shootings in the past decades, the victims have rarely been so young.
On Saturday, some Democratic lawmakers called for sweeping new gun-control measures, a move certain to run up against stiff opposition from the nation's powerful pro-gun lobby.
President Barack Obama plans to travel to the affluent suburb of 27,000 people about 80 miles from New York City on Sunday to meet with victims' families and speak at a vigil at 7 p.m. local time, the White House said in a statement.
Missing from the nativity
Townsfolk packed into the church memorial services held throughout the day. On Saturday night, the pews at St. Rose of Lima were packed with parishioners standing at the rear of the church for a Nativity concert.
There was a live cow, a donkey and a camel. But at least one person was missing - 6-year-old Olivia Engel, who was to have had a role.
"She was supposed to be an angel in the play," said Reverend Robert Weiss. "Now she's an angel up in heaven."
