Dawn Hochsprung and Mary Sherlach: Principal and psychologist killed in Connecticut school shooting

When a gunman burst into Sandy Hook Elementary School and started firing, some teachers dived under tables - but the principal and school psychologist never hesitated.

They ran into the hallway to confront the danger - and were murdered execution-style as a result .

Police have identified Principal Dawn Hochsprung, 47, and psychologist Mary Sherlach, 56, as two of the five adults killed at the Connecticut school on Friday afteoon.

Diane Day, a school therapist, told the Wall Street Joual that she and several other teachers were in a meeting with Mrs Hochsprung and Mrs Sherlach when the shooting began. 

'We were there for about five minutes chatting and we heard, "pop pop pop,"' she said. 'I went under the table.'

The principal and the school psychologist had other ideas. They jumped out of their seat and ran toward the sound of the gunfire.

'They didn’t think twice about confronting or seeing what was going on,' Ms Day said. 

Both women were killed in the hallway by the gunman, identified as Adam Lanza, 20, whose mother was a kindergarten teacher at the school.

Devastation: Sandy Hook Elementary School, home to 700 students, was attacked by a crazed gunman on Friday

Fire drill: Mrs Hochsprung tweeted a photo her students at Sandy Hook Elementary performing an evacuation drill

Rabbi Shaul Praver told MSNBC that Mrs Hochsprung and Mrs Sherlach were killed execution-style. 

Twenty school children and five adults were killed at the elementary school on Friday moing. The gunman's mother was found dead at her home. The total death toll is 27, including the shooter.

Tributes for both educators poured in on Friday night. 

Former school superintendent John Reed told the Connecticut Post that Mrs Sherlach was warm and cared deeply for her students.

'If there ever was a person, by qualifications and personality, to work with children, to be a school psychologist, it was Mary,' he said.

Mouing: Newtown residents tued out for memorial ceremonies on Friday night across the city - including at Lima Roman Catholic Church

She was married and half two grown daughters in their 20s and enjoyed gardening, reading and the theater, according to her school biography.

Mrs Hoschspring was divorced, but happily married to her second husband, tweeted dozens of pictures of her school.

Friends and neighbors said it was immediately clear to everyone she knew that she loved her students and her school.

'I don’t think you could find a more positive place to bring students to every day,' she told a local newspaper recently.