Newtown: The Town Of Broken Hearts

We’re pretty sure most of you have heard about the devastation that took place in Sandy Hook Elementary School, Newtown, Connecticut. Two days ago, we wrote on the preliminary reports that were circling around the interwebs. Now, we’ve got the full deal on what went on that fateful day:

1. 26 people were killed that Friday morning. (Source)
2. Six of them were adults, all women. This includes the school psychologist and the principal, who died trying to save the students. (Source)
3. Out of 26 lives that were sacrificed, 20 were children. Out of 20 children, eight were boys and 12 were girls. (Source)
4. All 20 deceased children were only six or seven years old. (Source)
5. The slain adults and children were shot with an assault rifle. Some of them up close and all of them apparently were shot more than once.
6. The gunman is 20-year-old Adam Lanza. He did not walk into Sandy Hook Elementary School (before shattering the world with violence) freely. It was a forced entry.
7. Whilst he shot most of his victims with a Bushmaster .223 semi-automatic rifle, he also carried two handguns and left a shotgun in his car. (Source)
8. Adam then died. Apparently, by his own hand, from a gunshot wound. (Source)
9. Adam Lanza’s mother, Nancy Lanza, was also found dead but in a separate location.
10. Despite initial reports that Nancy Lanza was a teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary School, it has now been confirmed that she was not.
11. However, investigators believe that Adam attended Sandy Hook Elementary School years ago. But they had no explanation for why he went there on Friday. (Source)
12. Relatives of the victims were shown photographs to assist in identification. They did not view the bodies. (Source)
13. The list of victims has been released. Some with pictures, some with only descriptions, whilst others with both pictures and descriptions. (Source)
14. The first two funerals, for six-year-olds Jack Pinto and Noah Pozner are currently underway. (Source)
15. Meanwhile, the small community of Newtown have already begun taking down Christmas decorations in respect of the deceased. (Source)
16. This Newtown massacre is the second-deadliest school shooting in US history and one of the deadliest mass shootings around the world. (Source)

President Barack Obama met with first responders and the families of the victims two days after the horrific massacre. He attended the vigil held at Newtown High School, where he gave an emotional and tearful speech:

Since I’ve been president, this is the fourth time we have come together to comfort a grieving community torn apart by mass shootings, fourth time we’ve hugged survivors, the fourth time we’ve consoled the families of victims.

And in between, there have been an endless series of deadly shootings across the country, almost daily reports of victims, many of them children, in small towns and in big cities all across America, victims whose — much of the time their only fault was being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

We can’t tolerate this anymore. These tragedies must end. And to end them, we must change.

20 children will never go to prom. 20 children will never graduate. 20 children will never know what it’s like to fall in love. And this Christmas, there will be no celebrations for Newtown, the town of broken hearts.