Conn. town mourns as police look for answers
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NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) - Investigators tried to figure out what led a bright but painfully awkward 20-year-old to slaughter 26 children and adults at a Connecticut elementary school, while townspeople sadly took down some of their Christmas decorations and struggled Saturday with how to go on.
The tragedy brought forth soul-searching and grief around the globe. Families as far away as Puerto Rico began to plan funerals for victims who still had their baby teeth, world leaders extended condolences, and vigils were held around the U.S.
Relatives of the shooter, whose victims included his mother, were at a loss for words.
"The whole family is traumatized by this event," said a police official who knows the family. A family statement read: "We reach out to the community of Newtown and express our heartfelt sorrow for this incomprehensible and profound loss of innocence."
Amid the sorrow, stories of heroism emerged, including an account of the Sandy Hook Elementary School principal and the school psychologist who lost their lives rushing toward the gunman, Adam Lanza, in an attempt to stop him.
Police shed no light on what triggered the second-deadliest school shooting in U.S. history, though state police Lt. Paul Vance said investigators had found "very good evidence ... that our investigators will be able to use in painting the complete picture, the how and, more importantly, the why." He would not elaborate.
However, another law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said investigators have found no note or manifesto from Lanza of the sort they have come to expect after murderous rampages such as the Virginia Tech bloodbath in 2007 that left 33 people dead.
The mystery deepened as Newtown education officials said they had found no link between Lanza's mother and the school, contrary to news reports that said she was a teacher there. Investigators said they believe Adam Lanza attended Sandy Hook Elementary many years ago, but they had no explanation for why he went there on Friday.
Lanza shot to death his mother, Nancy Lanza, at the home they shared, then drove to the school in her car with at least three of her guns, forced his way inside and opened fire in two classrooms, authorities said. Within minutes, he killed 20 children, six adults and himself.
James Champion, Nancy Lanza's brother and a retired police captain in Kingston, N.H., said through the police chief that he had not seen his nephew in eight years. Champion, who still works as a part-time officer, said he would not discuss what might have triggered the rampage since the case is under investigation.
On Saturday, Chief Medical Examiner Dr. H. Wayne Carver said all the victims at the school were shot with a rifle, at least some of them up close, and all of them were apparently shot more than once. All six adults killed at the school were women. Of the 20 children, eight were boys and 12 were girls. All the children were 6 or 7 years old.
Asked how many bullets were fired, Carver said, "I'm lucky if I can tell you how many I found."
The tragedy plunged Newtown into mourning and added the picturesque New England community of handsome colonial homes, red-brick sidewalks and 27,000 people to the grim map of towns where mass shootings in recent years have periodically reignited the national debate over gun control but led to little change.
Signs around town read, "Hug a teacher today," ''Please pray for Newtown" and "Love will get us through."
"People in my neighborhood are feeling guilty about it being Christmas. They are taking down decorations," said Jeannie Pasacreta, a psychologist who was advising parents struggling with how to talk to their children.
The list of the dead was released Saturday, but in the tightly knit town, nearly everyone already seemed to know someone who died.
Among the dead: well-liked Principal Dawn Hochsprung, 47, who town officials say tried to stop the rampage and paid with her life; school psychologist Mary Sherlach, 56, who probably would have helped survivors grapple with the tragedy; a teacher thrilled to have been hired this year; and a 6-year-old girl who had just moved to Newtown from Canada.
"Next week is going to be horrible," said the town's legislative council chairman, Jeff Capeci, thinking about the string of funerals the town will face. "Horrible, and the week leading into Christmas."
School board chairwoman Debbie Leidlein spent Friday night meeting with parents who lost children and shivered as she recalled those conversations. "They were asking why. They can't wrap their minds around it. Why? What's going on?" she said. "And we just don't have any answers for them."
Nancy Lanza, who was once a stockbroker for John Hancock in Boston and once lived in Kingston, N.H., was a kind, considerate and loving person, Kingston Police Chief Donald Briggs Jr. said.
"She was very involved in the community and very well-respected," Briggs said.
Authorities said Adam Lanza had no criminal history, and it was not clear whether he had a job. Lanza was believed to have suffered from a personality disorder, said a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Another law enforcement official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said Lanza had been diagnosed with Asperger's, a mild form of autism often characterized by social awkwardness. People with the disorder are often highly intelligent. While they can become frustrated more easily, there is no evidence of a link between Asperger's and violent behavior, experts say.
The law enforcement officials insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the unfolding investigation.
Acquaintances describe the former honor student as smart but odd and remote.
Olivia DeVivo, now a student at the University of Connecticut, recalled that Lanza always came to school toting a briefcase and wearing his shirt buttoned all the way up. "He was very different and very shy and didn't make an effort to interact with anybody" in his 10th-grade English class, she said.
"You had yourself a very scared young boy who was very nervous around people," said Richard Novia, who was the school district's head of security and adviser to the high school's Tech Club, of which Lanza was a member. He added: "He was a loner."
Novia said Lanza had extreme difficulties relating to fellow students and teachers, as well as a strange bodily condition: "If that boy would've burned himself, he would not have known it or felt it physically."
Lanza would also go through crises that would require his mother to come to school to deal with. Such episodes might involve "total withdrawal from whatever he was supposed to be doing, be it a class, be it sitting and read a book," Novia said.
When people approached Lanza in the hallways, he would press himself against the wall or walk in a different direction, clutching his black case "like an 8-year-old who refuses to give up his teddy bear," said Novia, who now lives in Tennessee.
Even so, Novia said his main concern about Lanza was that he might become a target for teasing or abuse by other students, not that he might become a threat.
"Somewhere along in the last four years there were significant changes that led to what has happened Friday morning," Novia said. "I could never have foreseen him doing that."
Lanza's family was struggling to make sense of what happened and "trying to find whatever answers we can," his father, Peter Lanza, said in a statement late Saturday that also expressed sympathy for the victims' families.
Sandy Hook Elementary will be closed next week - some parents can't even conceive of sending their children back, Leidlein said - and officials are deciding what to do about the town's other schools.
Asked whether the town would recover, Maryann Jacob, a clerk in the school library who took cover in a storage room with 18 fourth-graders during the shooting rampage, said: "We have to. We have a lot of children left."
___
Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Jim Fitzgerald, Bridget Murphy, Pat Eaton-Robb and Michael Melia in Newtown; Adam Geller in Southbury, Conn.; and Stephen Singer in Hartford, Conn.
The tragedy brought forth soul-searching and grief around the globe. Families as far away as Puerto Rico began to plan funerals for victims who still had their baby teeth, world leaders extended condolences, and vigils were held around the U.S.
Relatives of the shooter, whose victims included his mother, were at a loss for words.
"The whole family is traumatized by this event," said a police official who knows the family. A family statement read: "We reach out to the community of Newtown and express our heartfelt sorrow for this incomprehensible and profound loss of innocence."
Amid the sorrow, stories of heroism emerged, including an account of the Sandy Hook Elementary School principal and the school psychologist who lost their lives rushing toward the gunman, Adam Lanza, in an attempt to stop him.
Police shed no light on what triggered the second-deadliest school shooting in U.S. history, though state police Lt. Paul Vance said investigators had found "very good evidence ... that our investigators will be able to use in painting the complete picture, the how and, more importantly, the why." He would not elaborate.
However, another law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said investigators have found no note or manifesto from Lanza of the sort they have come to expect after murderous rampages such as the Virginia Tech bloodbath in 2007 that left 33 people dead.
The mystery deepened as Newtown education officials said they had found no link between Lanza's mother and the school, contrary to news reports that said she was a teacher there. Investigators said they believe Adam Lanza attended Sandy Hook Elementary many years ago, but they had no explanation for why he went there on Friday.
Lanza shot to death his mother, Nancy Lanza, at the home they shared, then drove to the school in her car with at least three of her guns, forced his way inside and opened fire in two classrooms, authorities said. Within minutes, he killed 20 children, six adults and himself.
James Champion, Nancy Lanza's brother and a retired police captain in Kingston, N.H., said through the police chief that he had not seen his nephew in eight years. Champion, who still works as a part-time officer, said he would not discuss what might have triggered the rampage since the case is under investigation.
On Saturday, Chief Medical Examiner Dr. H. Wayne Carver said all the victims at the school were shot with a rifle, at least some of them up close, and all of them were apparently shot more than once. All six adults killed at the school were women. Of the 20 children, eight were boys and 12 were girls. All the children were 6 or 7 years old.
Asked how many bullets were fired, Carver said, "I'm lucky if I can tell you how many I found."
The tragedy plunged Newtown into mourning and added the picturesque New England community of handsome colonial homes, red-brick sidewalks and 27,000 people to the grim map of towns where mass shootings in recent years have periodically reignited the national debate over gun control but led to little change.
Signs around town read, "Hug a teacher today," ''Please pray for Newtown" and "Love will get us through."
"People in my neighborhood are feeling guilty about it being Christmas. They are taking down decorations," said Jeannie Pasacreta, a psychologist who was advising parents struggling with how to talk to their children.
The list of the dead was released Saturday, but in the tightly knit town, nearly everyone already seemed to know someone who died.
Among the dead: well-liked Principal Dawn Hochsprung, 47, who town officials say tried to stop the rampage and paid with her life; school psychologist Mary Sherlach, 56, who probably would have helped survivors grapple with the tragedy; a teacher thrilled to have been hired this year; and a 6-year-old girl who had just moved to Newtown from Canada.
"Next week is going to be horrible," said the town's legislative council chairman, Jeff Capeci, thinking about the string of funerals the town will face. "Horrible, and the week leading into Christmas."
School board chairwoman Debbie Leidlein spent Friday night meeting with parents who lost children and shivered as she recalled those conversations. "They were asking why. They can't wrap their minds around it. Why? What's going on?" she said. "And we just don't have any answers for them."
Nancy Lanza, who was once a stockbroker for John Hancock in Boston and once lived in Kingston, N.H., was a kind, considerate and loving person, Kingston Police Chief Donald Briggs Jr. said.
"She was very involved in the community and very well-respected," Briggs said.
Authorities said Adam Lanza had no criminal history, and it was not clear whether he had a job. Lanza was believed to have suffered from a personality disorder, said a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Another law enforcement official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said Lanza had been diagnosed with Asperger's, a mild form of autism often characterized by social awkwardness. People with the disorder are often highly intelligent. While they can become frustrated more easily, there is no evidence of a link between Asperger's and violent behavior, experts say.
The law enforcement officials insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the unfolding investigation.
Acquaintances describe the former honor student as smart but odd and remote.
Olivia DeVivo, now a student at the University of Connecticut, recalled that Lanza always came to school toting a briefcase and wearing his shirt buttoned all the way up. "He was very different and very shy and didn't make an effort to interact with anybody" in his 10th-grade English class, she said.
"You had yourself a very scared young boy who was very nervous around people," said Richard Novia, who was the school district's head of security and adviser to the high school's Tech Club, of which Lanza was a member. He added: "He was a loner."
Novia said Lanza had extreme difficulties relating to fellow students and teachers, as well as a strange bodily condition: "If that boy would've burned himself, he would not have known it or felt it physically."
Lanza would also go through crises that would require his mother to come to school to deal with. Such episodes might involve "total withdrawal from whatever he was supposed to be doing, be it a class, be it sitting and read a book," Novia said.
When people approached Lanza in the hallways, he would press himself against the wall or walk in a different direction, clutching his black case "like an 8-year-old who refuses to give up his teddy bear," said Novia, who now lives in Tennessee.
Even so, Novia said his main concern about Lanza was that he might become a target for teasing or abuse by other students, not that he might become a threat.
"Somewhere along in the last four years there were significant changes that led to what has happened Friday morning," Novia said. "I could never have foreseen him doing that."
Lanza's family was struggling to make sense of what happened and "trying to find whatever answers we can," his father, Peter Lanza, said in a statement late Saturday that also expressed sympathy for the victims' families.
Sandy Hook Elementary will be closed next week - some parents can't even conceive of sending their children back, Leidlein said - and officials are deciding what to do about the town's other schools.
Asked whether the town would recover, Maryann Jacob, a clerk in the school library who took cover in a storage room with 18 fourth-graders during the shooting rampage, said: "We have to. We have a lot of children left."
___
Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Jim Fitzgerald, Bridget Murphy, Pat Eaton-Robb and Michael Melia in Newtown; Adam Geller in Southbury, Conn.; and Stephen Singer in Hartford, Conn.
For those inclined to blame a parent:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/16/i-am-adam-lanzas-mother-mental-illness-conversation_n_2311009.html
as a teen. jobs were at my preference . what job i wanted i got. if i diden' like, it id try something else .now jobs r like gold. regardless if it what u like. and a teachers wage isent going to pay for more then the heating bill. just a thought .not to be mean . but did this child have a dad?
@maggie112 The reports that I have heard are that his parents were divorced and that his dad had remarried and was living in another city.
We need to call this coward what he really was. He was a low life coward who wanted to go up against and kill unarmed people, including obviously very young and defenseless children, rather than go up against armed adults. He especially did not want to go up against armed cops as shown by his cowardly suicide as they were arriving. He was a yellow belly coward. Same as the Aurora, Tucson, Columbine, Virginia Tech, etc. etc. slimy cowards who were killing defenseless people. They were all supposedly sane enough to be on the streets and worse so the only thing left is that they were, and are, all unmitigated, repellant cowards.
 @flyskiwindsurf I haven't been following this tragedy but what I have read points more to a case of severe mental illness than it does to cowardice.
@Furd Yeah some. It might depend on what is considered severe. However if we are going to allow people like this to remain in society, essentially, then I believe that we have to let them as, well as any others that might be contemplating something similar, that we all consider something like this to be at least extreme cowardice if not worse. I.e. if they want to go after someone, go after armed, or even unarmed, adults, not defenseless children. I believe that most cops and even civilian adults would rather try to take them on first. Look at the very brave behavior of a number of the (unarmed) women at the school. I believe we need to stop explaining all of these things away with mental illness. We can all say that with a âno duhâ afterwards. There must be a way to convince even these âmentally illâ that this is completely deplored by any society. Some of these cowards seem to think that it might almost be a badge of honor or something. And about anyone might be able to consider themselves âmentally illâ to at least one degree or another. Sometimes excuses are just that. Excuses.
It sounds like this was a young man clearly struggling with mental issues that, I believe even as a layperson, went FAR beyond the autism spectrum.
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I would hope, along with looking at gun control (though let's face it, guns don't kill people on their own, people kill people USING guns) that we as a nation also look at our mental health system and the shame that usually accompanies mental health issues as well.
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May the victims rest in peace...such a tragedy. I have lost a loved one who was an older child (11) to a graphic murder and personally know how utterly numbing and incomprehensible this sort of act is. Why would he want to take his (anger, frustration, who knows?) out on innocent children who had NOTHING at all whatsoever to do with whatever was going on?
There is an increasingly violent culture in this county, evidenced by violent blockbuster movies, video games and yes, even cartoons.   We are becoming desensitized to violence in our everyday lives and it may be that we as a society are struggling to define it.  I just watched "how to tame your dragon", which ultimately had a kind message, but was subject to violence along the way. Perhaps it's time to rate movies, cartoons and electronic games with a scarlet "V" for violence. It is hard to begin to imagine the pain of those who have lost children and loved ones in this incomprehensible attack.  It's hard to find the words to say - i hope they can eventually find peace.
 @jennieb I agree 100%.
To all you agenda pushers, give it a rest and let the country mourn in peace.
 @Brokesince08 No! We will not give it a rest. We will not rest until these types of weapons are taken off the streets. NO ONE has the right to use the type of weapon this man used to kill these women and children. Your right to walk around with any kind of weapon you want does not supercede our children's right to go to the mall, the movie theater or to school safely.
 @justmyopinion  @Brokesince08 Would you have preferred he used a bomb?Car? Bow and Arrow? Poison? (all of which have been used in mass killings) You will never get rid of guns. It's not going to happen, so maybe you should focus your anger and energy in pushing someone in our government to get off their lazy behinds and DO something about mental health issues in this country. THAT is the true problem. I own many guns, yet I've never felt compelled to go shoot up a church, mall or school. It's not the "tool" used, it's the person holding it.
 @Wolfen Â
You are only part way there. The status of mental health concerns has got to be made a requirement both for the sake of the afflicted, but society as a whole. But so too must the requirement that gun owners take preventive measures in securing their gun collections even from members of their own family.
If you still believe in God, God help your soul!
Let us all just get down on our knees and concede that the "Devil" won this fight today! "Lord jesus Christ" was just a belief that was not there when needed!
Nothing will change. Presidents have been killed, MLK was killed, Ronald Reagan was almost killed, John Lennon was killed, Congresswoman Gaby Gifford was practically killed and thousands every year are killed too. The fact is we live in the wild west and guns are more important than life itself and nothing will change with the massacre in Connecticut. We will just keep counting the dead.
Komo seriously, most of this article is about the shooter, the victims get nothing more then a few sentences.Â
 @Nicole PÂ
Nothing like a double standard is there? The names were released and pictures of many of them. Yet people complained about that. The families seem to be guarding much of the 'personal' information respectfully. Their stories of the heroism of the teachers has been detailed, or did you miss that one?
In times like these, makes me wish there was such thing as a do over button. I know everyone would of loved to stop this.Â
We, the citizens of the US are becoming desensitized to violence. Lots of blame to go around. Violent movies - i was watching a new Hollywood release, a cartoon yesterday with my grandson. Violent. I turned it off and may ask the "on demand" folks for a refund. Has any reader played a video game lately? or ever? pretty violent. And this young man was a gamer. Violence sells in the theatre, the game stores and i wager that even the well known toy store at the Tacoma Mall sells violent toys.  ok, so lets ask ourselves why we buy this stuff? personnally, i get nightmare from being exposed to a lot on the current line up of TV shows. to add insult a Fox commentator just compared this massacre to the killing of middle eastern children but children there were just "collateral damage".   And this is some how more acceptable.   really? the news media is increasingly desensitized.
 @jenniebas a 18 year old , ITS THE lack of being able to SUPPORT YOUR SELF! as expected! why is that so hard to understand? because its easier to clam a person as mental OR LAZY? they have falling into the hands and reasoning of communism.... DEATH.    the people cant afford to pay taxes to help support the kids of the 20th century including most hard working parents. that cant seem to keep their own kids from going off the deep end. yes, they will hurt others to make a point ,in a rage to want only life alone. most 3 year old has to repeat themselves a few times to get parents attention, we dont hear them tell they really do something to get it ,im i wrong? adults thrash streets to be heard teenagers no different just in a different way, but AT THE COST OF THEIR LIVES TOO HUMILIATED not realizing its not of their control
@maggie112 You have some valid points. I believe there is at least some help out there is there not?
Calm down, people. We'll all forget about this incident and stop talking about it within a month. I guarantee. Until the next incident similar to this...
 @mastur de bator "Calm down"? Are you kidding or just an insensitive jerk? Geeze, think of all the parents and families who lost their innocent loved ones. Do you think THEY will forget about this in a month? I lost my 4 1/2 year old brother more than 60 years ago, and I remember finding him unconscious, like it was yesterday.
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You ought to go do what your user name says, and remove yourself from this forum.
@mastur de bator You may well feel that way, but I'd be willing to bet that all those with children in public schools won't forget this for right away. It has a tendency to make people wonder if there is any place their children are safe.
So ask yourself, what went so wrong here. Of course we hear what the media wants us to hear. We have no way of finding out the real "truth." That there were signs in this kid doesn't help. Hindsight is 20-20. It's like Nostradamus. You can shove his "visions" into history anywhere and it fits. But what are some of the "real" signals? The one thing that stands out for me now, especially with this article, is that he used 3 of his mother's guns. Three? How many guns did she have? Why? Was mom a collector? Did she fear for her life (rightly so it appears). Did this shooter live with his mother? Did he live on the streets? Was he kicked out by his mother so thereby blamed her for what he was going through? It's pretty obvious he had a real anger against women. Most of his victims where women (children and adults). Did he choose this classroom because his mother was a teacher's aid there (although now I'm reading she had no affiliation with the school?). Was that a classroom he remembered from his childhood where something terrible happened to him? Or did he enter the classroom he came to first? Really, there's nothing to go on except we have a troubled 20 year old ex-student that decided to commit suicide one day and take as many people as he could with him. If all he wanted was to die, he could have had a stand-off with the police and committed suicide-by-cop. If he just wanted to die, he could have shot himself at his mother's house or anywhere for that matter. But he decided to shoot up this classroom, why?
 @Joy Johnson like getting up in the morning and putting on your expensive make up, to go into a dark cave, alone. i might add.whats the point? 18 year olds have a worthless day . day after day. no job! no life. the world pressures u to kill your self. if u r not worthy . these kids not being able to control they're own lives, the humiliation,they need to do what  grandpa expects! in two words ....no jobs. as for mental, that is whats driving men ,our 18 year olds over the edge. we just dont know how to tell them to stay calm. these nowa days
@maggie112 There are many cycles in life. Many many ups and downs. As much education as possible can help.
We do not advocate for banning guns. Gun owners have been brainwashed into thinking that way by the gun industry and its marketing arm, the NRA. What we advocate for is responsible gun ownership, no different than responsible driving, responsible drinking and responsible parenting. How about requiring training, licensing and true background checks (mental and criminal) for all gun owners.
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In a free society, people should have the right to own guns, but do it responsibly. What we have today is basically giving people the right to be suicide bombers.
@Socialjusticeforall Exactly, we are not calling for the banning of weapons. We are calling for better laws to protect people. Sadly in 2012 we need this. This type of stuff didn't happen 100 yrs ago. in 2012 it happens all too often
@Nicole PÂ
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President Lincoln was killed with a gun. This has happened before. Stop dreaming.Â
@Socialjusticeforall The problem is that people who use guns in this manner are not going to register their guns or take required training. The responsible gun owners aren't the ones doing this and it is the user not the gun that takes peoples lives.
 @Socialjusticeforall Some of us already do it responsibly.
 @Gadsden MOST gun owners are responsible.
@GadsdenÂ
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If you really think of yourself as a responsible gun owner, then you must agree to create regulations to stop criminal and mentally ill people from getting them. I am sure that responsible owners won't mind a few more safeguards. Until then, you are lumped with the crazy people.Â
@Socialjusticeforall There may be responsible gun owners out there but how reponsile is it for the mother to let her children to get their irresponsible hands on them? Thats not "responsible"
@Gadsden @Socialjusticeforall And many of us could responsibly handle a cell phone and drive, some of us were responsible in how we consume alcohol, some of us were able to shut up when going to see a movie in the theater, some of us...
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The major problem here is that for those who will do things responsibly, with anything in life, will be challenged by those who don't. That's why we have all the warning lables, the speed limits, the class action suits, and yes the current gun laws. In most cases, we who will act responsibly, will have further impositions imposed because of some senseless idiot. That one idiot can ruin things for everyone else. Yes, there is a need to consider revising the gun laws of this country. If people in the 1700's and 1800's survived, hunting for food with out the use of semi-automatic assult rifles, then the hunters today don't have a legitimate 'need' to use an ak or any other assult rifle to pick out a deer to mount on their wall as a fricken trophy.
 @Gadsden Sadly though many do not.
 @Socialjusticeforall Well some of us advocate banning SOME guns. Let hunters have hunting rifles and shotguns. Let competition shooters have their specialized weapons. Let youngsters have their BB-guns. But get rid of the handguns and the assault weapons. Because even if we advocate for "responsible" gun ownership, there are too many people who are not responsible.Â
"When death has come and taken our loved ones
Leaving our homes so lonely and drear
Then do we wonder how others prosper
Living so wicked year after year.
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Farther along we'll know more about it
Farther along we'll understand why.
Cheer up my brother, live in the sunshine
We'll understand it all by and by."
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Not suggesting that we forget these losses and just 'live in the sunshine" --Â but that we go on living in the sunshine because we must, all the while working to see what can be done about such tragedies.
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(Elvis, "Farther Along", gospel music)
Why are law enforcement officials who are not authorized to speak blabbing? Isn't this a reason for the extreme disinformation being generated around this incident? They should do their jobs and shaddup.
@PilonidalCyst take your own advice foo
I guess you are the one A%%hole who has to bash law enforcement. They are doing there jobs. I suppose you could handle a mass shooting scene with 20 small children dead in two rooms, and deal with the parents of these poor angels whose lives were taken so early and explain exactly how it happend. There is a lot of information that is coming from all over that is not true. This hasn't come from law enforcement but outside sources. So why don't you just SHUDDUP!!!!
How about overwhelming prayers and love.  Get off the gun baloney. These people have suffered a HUGE loss that only God can remedy.Â
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We however are empowered to help.Â
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So send love, cash, whatever that will be of comfort in your own way and in your own faith or not. Just help.
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Just love and help.
I find it odd that a God that remedy the pain sat passively by and let the innocent child suffer and die.
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I hope that the family and love ones that have died will address the issue of grief in whatever manners bring them peace.
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The rest of us, most who donât know a single child at that school, should continue to go about our lives and not make the mistake of having an isolated tragedy cause us to do something ridiculous like pass unreasonable laws that further restrict the freedoms we enjoy. We already made that mistake in the wake of 9/11. Schools are considerably safer now than at any more time. Violent crime is at an all-time low. The only thing that is increasing is the amount of media coverage there is every time a glorified killing occurs; the sad but true statement is âIf it bleeds it leadsâ
 @Justaguy God never sits by and "lets" anything happen. God gave humankind the ability to think for themselves. The world becomes evil or not on it's own. We're not robots. We don't march to an invisible tune. God gave us intelligence and thereby hopes we can use it effectively. Gun control isn't surfacing because of this tragedy. It surfaces all the time. After the Oregon shootings, the Aurora shootings, the Virginia Tech shootings, the Binghamtom, NY shootings, Harrisburg, PA shootings, now Connecticut, this topic is not going to go away anytime soon. Banning assault weapons makes sense, banning all hand guns is futile. The only thing that makes sense is to register and regulate who gets a gun and who doesn't. Then if you are a "doesn't", and you get caught with the weapon or doing harm to another with a weapon, you are prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Those caught, should serve time, though who did harm, should be executed. Mental illness is no excuse, there are plenty of people with all kinds of disorders, medicated or not, and they don't do these kinds of things. But, early intervention with mental disorders should be addressed at the Federal level. I'm not sure the State level is prepared to take the necessary action needed. Parents are our first line of defense. But parents often fear being stigmatized or having their children labeled for life. We need to fix that. Instead of focusing on guns, who are an extension of the person carrying them, we should look to the mental health issues for children. By the time they hit 16 and up, it's almost too late to intervene without substantial medications and treatment, or unfortunately, suicide. As we have seen all to often lately, these troubled souls never want to leave this world alone.
@Furd I almost wonder if she is texting, tweeting, or whatever from some cell phone. Or at least acting like she is.
 @maggie112 I pray to god that you learn how to write a coherent sentence but so far I am blessed with nothing.
 @Joy Johnson  @Justaguy we need to provide jobs to these 18 years that has been god breading. until god sets one foot on this earth he she it has nothing.
 @Justaguy -- "I find it odd that a God that remedy the pain sat passively by and let the innocent child suffer and die." We live in a broken and sinful world. God never promised there wouldn't be pain and suffering in this world, what he promised was that when there is pain and suffering he'd be there to see us through it. I have faith that he is with those families helping them through this and that he will be with the rest of us as our nation morns this horrific incident.
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@Bianca @Justaguy They are speaking towards the mindset that god would select those to survive as god selects those who will be victims. It's an all or nothing viewpoint where those sometimes wish to view religion and god specifically, in a 'want the cake and eat it too' stance. From what I take on your comment, you do not share the viewpoint that justaguy was addressing.