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CT School Shooting Suspect Shot His Way Into School, Killed Himself When Cops Arrived
By
Ben Yakas
Published Dec 16, 2012
Modified Dec 17, 2012
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via ABC, NBC
By
Ben Yakas
Published Dec 16, 2012
Modified Dec 17, 2012
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There has been a lot of confusion and rumors regarding Friday's tragic school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. But investigators and officials have begun to clarify certain parts of the timeline: Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy confirmed that alleged shooter Adam Lanza, 20, wasn't buzzed into the school, but rather shot his way in: "He used a weapon to open up the glass and then walked in," Malloy said on ABC's This Week. "He discharged to make an opening and then went through it, went to the first classroom, as you know, went to the second classroom."
"We surmise that it was during the second classroom episode that he heard responders coming and apparently at that, decided to take his own life," Malloy said. The medical examiner also confirmed that Lanza died of a gunshot wound to the head that was self-inflicted. The first police officer on the scene told CBS that he saw Lanza down a hallway; he believes Lanza spotted him, ducked into a classroom, and committed suicide. You can read the whole account below:
The first police officer on the scene was confronted by the glass window that Lanza had shot his way through to get past the locked door. The officer advanced into the school and saw the gunman, from a great distance down a long hallway, perhaps a couple of hundred feet. The gunman, dressed all in black, spotted the officer and ducked into a room off the hallway. As the officer, now joined by a partner began to rush down the hall toward the gunman they heard a volley of shots. When they got there, they found the gunman, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Just beyond the gunman, in a classroom, children huddled together, and their teacher, all of them shot multiple times. Nearby, in a bathroom another group of children, huddled together, all shot multiple times. It appears that the gunman let go a last volley of shots at his victims before killing himself with a single bullet to the head.
The Washington Post and The Hartford Courant both have detailed, updated, brutal re-tellings of the events of the day that left 28 people dead altogether, including 20 children.
They're full of painful details, like how some teachers told kids it was a "drill" and had them shut their eyes. About how one kid wondered if pots and pans were clanging, while another was worried an animal was coming to the door. About how librarian Mary Anne Jacobs gave kids crayons and papers: "As muffled screams continued over the loudspeaker, 18 fourth graders began to color." First-grade teacher Janet Vollmer read her kindergartners a story, while music teacher Maryrose Kristopik blocked the door with a xylophone. Caitlin Roig turned off the lights and told her kids, “We need to wait for the good guys.”
Then there is this bit from the Courant:
The classroom he chose to enter was substitute teacher Lauren Rousseau's, where he proceeded to systematically shoot everyone inside — the 14 children who investigators believe were huddled and clutching one another in fear, Rousseau and a special education teacher who happened to be in the room. Rousseau was filling in for the regular teacher, who was out on maternity leave. Rousseau had been teaching at the school for six weeks.
"There were 14 coats hanging there and 14 bodies. He killed them all," said a law enforcement officer involved in the case.
Tagged
adam lanza
connecticut
death
gun death
newtown
newtown shooting
sandy hook elementary school
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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