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Police: 27 Killed At Conn. School; One Other Dead
By: Associated Press
Posted on:
UPDATE: 4:38 p.m. A law enforcement official says the suspect in the Connecticut school shootings is 20-year-old Adam Lanza, the son of a teacher at the school where the shootings occurred. A second law enforcement official says the boy's mother, Nancy Lanza, is presumed dead.
The first official says Adam Lanza's older brother, 24-year-old Ryan, of Hoboken, N.J., is being questioned by police. An earlier report from a law enforcement official mistakenly transposed the brothers' first names.
Both officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record about the developing criminal investigation.
The first official said Adam Lanza is dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
UPDATE: 4:18 p.m. Police say 27 people were killed in the shooting at a Connecticut elementary school, including the gunman, and one person died at another scene.
The dead at the school include 20 children.
The gunman opened fire Friday morning inside a school where his mother worked. He blasted his way through the building as young students cowered helplessly in classrooms while their teachers and classmates were shot.
The gunman killed himself. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy says someone who lived with him also died.
Young students crying and looking frightened were escorted by adults through a parking lot in a line after the shots rang out in Newtown, 60 miles northeast of New York City.
The attack comes less than two weeks before Christmas and appears to be the nation's second-deadliest school shooting, exceeded only by the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007.
UPDATE: 3:23 p.m. More information is emerging about the suspect in today's Connecticut elementary school shootings. A law enforcement official identifies him as 24-year-old Ryan Lanza.
Another official who was briefed on the shooting says the gunman died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound — and that one of the victims was the shooter's mother, a teacher at the school.
According to one official, the suspect's younger brother is being held for questioning as a possible second shooter.
The official also says Ryan Lanza's girlfriend and another friend are missing in New Jersey.
Although authorities haven't released the number of dead and injured, an official says 26 people were killed, including 18 children, in addition to the gunman. That would make the shooting the nation's second-deadliest at a school — exceeded only by the Virginia tech massacre in 2007.
Students are telling parents about their ordeal this morning. One 6-year-old has told his father that he was in a classroom when a gunman burst in and shot the teacher. The boy said he grabbed some of his friends and ran from the room.
UPDATE: 3:15 p.m. A law enforcement official says the suspect in the Connecticut school shootings is 24-year-old Ryan Lanza and that his younger brother is being held for questioning as a possible second shooter.
The law enforcement official says the boys' mother, Nancy Lanza, works at the school as a teacher.
The official also said Ryan Lanza's girlfriend and another friend are missing in New Jersey.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the suspect is dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because the source was not authorized to speak on the record about the developing criminal investigation.
An official with knowledge of a shooting at a Connecticut elementary school says 27 people are dead, including 18 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. 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.
Video of news conference courtesy of PBS's NewsHour