Sandy Hook elementary shooting: 29 dead including 22 children at Connecticut school

Mike Gallagher

Dec 14, 2012 - 12:41

Dec 14, 2012 - 12:54

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Sandy Hook elementary shooting: 29 dead including 22 children at Connecticut school

Hundreds of officers, sniffer dogs, and firefighters patrol the streets outside Sandy Hook Elementary School to secure the area

At least 29 people are believed to be dead - including 22 children - after a gunman believed to be a teacher's son opened fire today at an elementary school in Connecticut, making it the worst school shooting in U.S. history.

Police were dispatched to Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown after they received reports of shots being fired by a gunman in one of the kindergarten classrooms at 9.35am.

The gunman has been named as 24-year-old Ryan Lanza whose mother is a teacher at the school. He went from classroom-to-classroom firing at students and teachers with a .223-caliber rifle, allegedly targeting his mother's classroom.

His father was found dead at his Hoboken, New Jersey, home around 2pm.

An entire classroom of students is unaccounted for and frantic parents are rushing to the school desperately seeking information on the safety of their children.

The gunman is dead and his body still at the scene. It is unclear if he shot himself or was brought down by an officer.

W5Traumatized students were seen being led out of the school crying and holding hands.

Traumatized students were seen being led out of the school crying and holding hands

A woman waits to hear about her sister, a teacher, following the tragic shooting this moing which has shocked the quiet suburban community

Chaotic scenes at the school as police work to secure the area and bodies are carried out of the school

Young children wait outside Sandy Hook Elementary School after a shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, this moing

Parents leave a staging area after being reunited with their children following a shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School

A shooter opened fire at the elementary school shooting at least 20 people - more than a dozen children are believed to be dead

A second man who was seen running from the school right after the shooting was taken into custody around 1pm after he was found in nearby woods.

Lanza is believed to have been carrying four weapons including two handguns and a rifle and was wearing a bullet-proof vest and black military gear.

One mother told CBS that her child said there were bullets 'whizzing by' him in the hallway and that a teacher pulled him into a classroom. It was said to have been like a 'war zone'.

The shooting is the latest in a series of high-profile gun crimes in American schools and colleges, that is especially shocking given the age of the students involved

The school principal and psychologist are believed to be among the dead.

Hundreds of officers swarmed the building as students were evacuated after a gunman went from classroom to classroom shooting students and teachers

A mother runs with her children as police above canvass homes in the area following a shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School

A mother runs with her children, left, as police canvass homes in the area following a shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, and another comforts her traumatized child, right

A black Honda believed to belong to the shooter has been cordoned off

There are preliminary reports a students father, who is believed to be 20-years-old and from New Jersey, was the shooter. He was killed at the scene though it is unclear if he shot himself or was brought down by an officer

Parents pick-up children outside Sandy Hook Elementary School after 18 students and two adults were shot dead this moing

Dawn Hochsprung, 47, has been the principal at Sandy Hook Elementary school since July 2010.

One teacher is confirmed to have been shot in the foot and is being treated at a local hospital.

The mayor said they are not releasing names until next-of-kin have been notified.

Two handguns have been recovered at the scene and police have cordoned off a black Honda with New Jersey plates believed to belong to the dead shooter.

Hundreds of officers and police dogs had the area surrounded as they worked to secure the scene.

Teachers and students were said to be in moing meetings when the shots were fired. The children were locked inside their classrooms until police came and evacuated them to a nearby fire station.

One child was seen being carried from the school by a police officer, apparently seriously wounded.

A person in one room had 'numerous gunshot wounds', police told the The Hartford Courant.

Traumatized students were seen being led out of the school crying and holding hands shortly after the shots rang out.

There were also reports that a bomb squad was being called into the school. A helicopter was flying over the scene.

Frantic parents were rushing to the school as they were advised to go to the nearby fire station with ID to pick up their children.

A witness told News8 he saw one child with a bloodied face and another with a hand injury.

The school has about 600 students from kindergarten through to fourth grade - aged between five and 11.

President Obama was first notified of the shooting at a Connecticut elementary school at 10:30am , White House press secretary Jay Caey said.

The president has been receiving updates and will continue to throughout the day, Caey added.

'If we get more information and as we get more information, we'll certainly provide it to you. The president as a father and I as a father certainly ... feel enormous sympathy for families that are affected and to do everything we can to support state and local law enforcement, to support those who are enduring what appears to be a very tragic event.'

First Selectman Pat Llodra told Patch that there is no information being released about the victims — only confirming that there was a shooting.

'I'm horrified, saddened and shocked that this happened in Newtown,' Llodra said. 'Our priorities right now are making sure everyone safe and reuniting parents with their children.'

One mother of an eight-year-old girl at the school, Brenda Lebinski, told Patch that her daughter is safe thanks to one teacher's decision to move all kids into a closet when a gunman had entered the building.

Mrs Lebinski said that she had spoken to her daughter's teacher who was in the school at the time of the shooting, and that a masked gunman had shot adults in the school.

'My daughter's teacher is my hero,' Lebinski said. 'She locked all the kids in a closet and that saved their lives.'