Can't comprehend all the parent's grief and shock at the loss of their precious children...Can't think for long about it or won't function today for my own kids, but I will hug and love on them that much more while I have them.

Evil people cause so much harm. Innocent children and people at work trying to do their best for each other had no choice. Just awful.

I'm crying my eyes out while I prepare for our Christmas celebration with our kids and grands on Sunday. I can't fathom the pain the families of the victims are going through. This carp has to stop!!!

I was watching earlier and ABC was saying there was another person still at large, the one slimeball was dead. That part is good. They identified him. Not sure if they still suspect another involved or not. The other schools in the area of course were on lockdown.

here's his fb acct..his mom was a teacher in kindergarden class, and she's dead...

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.facebook.com/rlanza?ref=ts&fref=ts

I kept wondering if his child attended, haven't heard. But it makes more sense that it's not his child's school, but his mom's. It's still awful. My son only had a 1/2 of school and I just keep on hugging him.

His FB page is taken down. Apparently, he walked into his mom's kindergarten class and shot and killed her and her class. Prayers for all the families involved.

His FB page is taken down. Apparently, he walked into his mom's kindergarten class and shot and killed her and her class. Prayers for all the families involved.

What makes this even more tragic for all concerned is the time of year it is!! I cannot comprehend the pain all those families will go through, not only now, but for the rest of their lives.

And these people who do these things take the 'easy' way out by committing suicide.

Shirley

"In addition to the casualties at the school, a dead body was also found in his home, officials said. Sources said Lanza was armed with four weapons and wearing a bullet-proof vest when he opened fire in the elementary school."

More news. It just keeps getting worse. My heart just aches for all those babies and their friends, family, their parents. I hope the three in the hospital pull through.

Here is a link that might be useful: where I got the excerpt from

News says he also killed his brother who lived in NJ, then drove back 80 some miles to the school.

:(

Makes me really sad

My brother-in-law lives in that area and I know that he works as an elementary school teacher in the next town over from where he lives. I've been worried all day trying to figure out whether this was at the elementary school where he works.
I finally figured out that he's at a different school but its still scary.

Sending prayers for all who have lost little ones and adults. It is so sad to hear about this.

Sending prayers for all who have lost little ones and adults. It is so sad to hear about this.

This is just incredibly sad.

Fortunately, the man in China had no gun. He had a knife. His 22 victims were *wounded*, not dead in seconds.

This country is NUTS about GUNS.

I just don't understand people these days. I'm in my early 30's and don't remember any shootings, major bullying, any of the nut job behaviors that happen now. My husband and I talk about fostering or adopting but with these events - what kind of world do these new children have? It's so very sad...

The shooter had no history of violence - I wonder what set him off.

Eighteen innocent children gone forever, two terribly injured. My heart is just breaking for those little lost souls. Six adults also gone. The world has gone crazy.

When are we going to rise up and fight back against guns in the hands of every idiot who wants one? We can all cry and be sorry and heartbroken, but what this country needs is gun control now.

Sorry, but the two terribly injured are now on the other list-making it 20. Makes me mad, sad, so many heart breaking things. There are reports that the father was killed, and the 2nd person they were holding was the younger brother. Regardless, it's so horrible.

This is so unspeakably heartwrenching. Those poor children. Those poor parents.

There are just no words to describe the agony, the sadness, the uselessness in this loss of such innocents.

Amen, Pam!!!!!

Now they are saying that Ryan was not the shooter. It was his brother.

What a sad day. Innocent children looking forward to the holidays spent with their families and the delight of wrapped gifts. They were just little guys.

Our nation needs to do something about adults who are mentally ill and need help. I bet we will learn that this mother's hands were tied by the law as she sought help for a mentally ill adult child.

What a tragic situation. This country needs stricter gun control laws.

This is the current information, as far as I know:

Adam Lanza, age 20, is the killer who shot and killed himself at the scene.

Ryan, his 24-year-old brother, is no longer a suspect, and says he hadn't seen his mentally disabled brother in awhile. He is cooperating with the police, and thinks Adam was carrying his ID, thus the name confusion.

There is a currently unidentifiiable woman shot dead in the home where Adam lived with his mother. Adam's girlfriend is missing from her home in New Jersey.

Adam's mother taught kindergarten at the school, and she is dead, but I'm not sure whether she was killed at home or at school

Several school staff were killed, including the principal.

Sounds like most of the children killed were in one kindergarten class, but I don't know if it was his mother's class or not.

Yes, they have said the kindergartners were in his mother's class.

My heart is aching for all that have lost loved ones. So tragic.

Sue

My DD's are close to kindergarten age (4 & 8). I can't even imagine what those poor people have been through. I feel for all the kids and teachers that survived and will now be terrified to go to school or possibly anywhere in public? These kids may have nightmares the rest of their lives. Kids should just be playing at recess and learning addition, not fearing for their lives.

Teresa-- It just astounded me today, sickened me, really, that we were hearing on the radio (tv, too) little voices describing, as best they could, what they heard, how they were told to run, etc.

Voices that at this time of year would be babbling about holiday presents. Now they are crime victims and witnesses. It just boggles my mind.

I'm curious whether, at that age, how much of this stays with them and turns into PTSD? Memories get repressed, tucked away, only to pop up in unexpected ways, I suppose.

I wanted to write something political, thought about it and changed my mind. Just say a prayer for those lost.

Everyone has 'emotional triggers' -- current events that make memories reverberate. The emotional damage from violence like this will continue to reverberate in those who experienced it -- directly and indirectly.

The minds of children under seven or eight don't always process rationally. (We have all seen that in the 'imaginary friends' and general 'magical thinking' that is so charming as kids try to understand the world.)

I would think that whatever counseling children receive now around this event will need to be repeated after they are adults. They will need to replace childish ideas about the event -- and their part in it -- with adult perspectives. (Young children often feel *they* have caused or are responsible for something totally beyond them.)

I see that the students will be sent to other schools, starting on Monday.

Don't see how they can ever re-open after this.

The link below has corrected information, with more about the suspect (apparently a brilliant guy) and his mother:

Here is a link that might be useful: updated information

"Fortunately, the man in China had no gun. He had a knife. His 22 victims were *wounded*, not dead in seconds.
This country is NUTS about GUNS."

"We can all cry and be sorry and heartbroken, but what this country needs is gun control now."

Amen.

it makes you numb....why...that is the unqnswered question

Morgan Freeman's statement about these random shootings....

"You want to know why. This may sound cynical, but here's why.

It's because of the way the media reports it. Flip on the news and watch how we treat the Batman theater shooter and the Oregon mall shooter like celebrities. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris are household names, but do you kn ow the name of a single victim of Columbine? Disturbed people who would otherwise just off themselves in their basements see the news and want to top it by doing something worse, and going out in a memorable way. Why a grade school? Why children? Because he'll be remembered as a horrible monster, instead of a sad nobody.

CNN's article says that if the body count "holds up", this will rank as the second deadliest shooting behind Virginia Tech, as if statistics somehow make one shooting worse than another. Then they post a video interview of third-graders for all the details of what they saw and heard while the shootings were happening. Fox News has plastered the killer's face on all their reports for hours. Any articles or news stories yet that focus on the victims and ignore the killer's identity? None that I've seen yet. Because they don't sell. So congratulations, sensationalist media, you've just lit the fire for someone to top this and knock off a day care center or a maternity ward next.
You can help by forgetting you ever read this man's name, and remembering the name of at least one victim. You can help by donating to mental health research instead of pointing to gun control as the problem."

As best I can figure, he was a nut ball who went completely off his rocker. At latest account, he shot his mother at home with one of her guns, and then he took a pair of his mother's guns and her car and drove to the school to commit further mayhem. It ended only when he shot himself.

His mother worked at this school and he was living with his mother.

None of this makes any sense. That's why I classed it as as crazy. Maybe he swallowed a bottle of "bath salts".

His mother never worked at the school, was not a teacher and in fact had problems with the school concerning her son . She withdrew him and home-schooled him. Didn't do such a great job. She was a huge gun enthusiast, shot at ranges and talked about her guns all the time at a bar which she frequented. She had an arsenal of assault weapons which seems like overkill if you're looking for protection in one of the safest towns in America.

Thanks for the update, Lily -- interesting how the "facts" that the media originally presented are at odds with current information.

When you've finished grieving and stumping for wider national health care to cover mental health...call your senator and congressperson and demand a ban on guns intended for use by the police and military.

We don't need 'tinkering around the edges' with paperwork. We need the police to be able to arrest and charge anyone carrying a handgun without fear of suit 'because he has a *permit*' (not a real need, just a permit).

Other first world nations ban citizens from owning weapons that are made and intended to kill people. Other nations also have mentally ill citizens and people who just get *angry* with one another. They have annual gun deaths in the low hundreds year while we have as many as ten thousand.

Petaloid, today's "facts" might not hold up either. This often happens whenever something major/catastrophic happens. The story & events surrounding it evolve as information is gathered. Even eye witnesses often don't tell the same story.

And Morgan Freeman's take on it... he knows nothing more about the killer's motivations, background, "the why", than any of the rest of us do. People speculate all over the place & try to pin it down to one answer as to "WHY" & leap to all manner of conclusions. Things are seldom as simple & uncomplicated as some try to make them out to be.

But Morgan Freeman is hollywood famous. His thoughts are so much more meaningful and profound than anyone elses.

We need to make sense of things so we can control our world. The problem is systemic - we have no sense of values, cohesiveness, safety, or security as a nation. We cannot shove the geenie back in the bottle.

All I can do is teach my kids empathy, love, responsibility, and consequences....if I do that, I can have a freaking nuclear bomb in my house and it will harm no one. That is all I can do, really - and if everyone else did just that, well I don't have to tell you all how peaceful things would be.

Perhaps you all should take notice of the statement quoted below and think twice before you report unsubstantiated information. This is not the time for speculation on anyone's part.

"CBS News/ December 16, 2012, 1:08 PM

In wake of school massacre, Conn. authorities warn against social media frauds

NEWTOWN, Conn. Connecticut authorities complained Sunday that false information about the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary school is being promulgated online by social media tricksters. And they warned that such misinformation is prosecutable under the law.

"Misinformation is being posted on social media. People posing as the shooter, mimicking this crime and crime scene and criminal activity, some things in a threatening manner," said Conn. State Police spokesman Paul Vance.

In addition to people pretending to be the shooter or other principals in the investigation, Vance said other posters are putting up information purported to be from the Newtown city police or the Connecticut state police. Neither of those agencies are posting information via twitter or other social media, he said.

"All info related to this case is coming from these microphones," he told reporters at a press briefing in Newtown Sunday morning.

Vance said he considered the misinformation a "violation of federal law and warrants an investigation."

"These issues are crimes, they will be examined in state and federally."

Just FYI, that quote attributed Morgan Freeman isn't from him, per Snopes and other sources I've seen.

I read a story from a blogger on Huffington Post, from a mother with a 'difficult' son. Worth reading.

Here is a link that might be useful: conversation about mental illness

Still in shock Monday. I friend who's an Elem school teacher, saw her this morning and she says if she was ever in that situation, she'd get her class out an emergency window exit.

What is an emergency window exit? Is it something different from a normal window?

It's Monday. Time to stop wringing our hands. Call your elected officials. Demand legislation banning handguns and automatic weapons.(You can be sure the NRA is rallying its' membership to say the opposite. Big money is at stake for the gun manufacturers.)

Stopping gun sales will not save our morally corrupt culture from self destructing......but calling representatives is better than nothing.

we will never get a ban on all guns, it's unfortunate but true :-/ We can get a ban on clips, magazines and drums and some semi-automatics and enact other laws for mental health, liability of ownership, enforce existing laws not being followed (severe punishments for lying on applications) and stop exemptions from background checks at gun shows. banning all guns is too late, the horse is out of the barn and in the next country by now, chicago is a great example of that. I do think that making the ammo for semi-automatics cost hundreds of $$ will end alot of drive-bys and mass shootings, if people want to waste to time to reload their own bullets there is nothing you can do to stop that thou.

I do support legal, responsible gun ownership of non semi-automatics with some laws applied. in some states you may only have 3 bullets in your gun for hunting, I believe GA is one of them. why have rules like that for hunters (which are ok by me) but allow semi-automatics to be used to shooting people? that is crazy!

we need to make gun owners legally liable for what happens w their own guns and force them to take proper precautions (safety locks and real gun safes) in order to keep their rights. they need reminding that severe laws restricting their gun rights are just a pen writing away thru executive order! the Conn shooters mother got what she deserved for having hundreds of rounds of ammo laying around, multiple guns including semi-automatics also left out when she had known for years her son had mental problems. I can't think of a more appropriate end for her, she is exactly what the NRA would love to sweep under the carpet.

we have all sorts of rules & regulations for getting a driver's license & owning a car, we should have similiar tests of ability, liability insurance and renewal laws concerning guns. things will be changing in this country, if you don't believe it you must have missed what happened on Nov 6 when the largest ground game ever organized in US history changed things forever. my focaus had already turned to 2014 but for now I am using my time and $$ for this cause. Can you just imagine how we can change the culture of violence in this country if we all want to imagine a future w/o it! in the last year, who really has not had a twinge of concern (even if it's just a thought) going to a mall or movie theatre now...that is a culture of fear & violence. ~ liz

"Tinkering" with licences, etc. creates a lot of easy-to-escape loopholes. Right now it is simple to skip regulation by buying outside of the legal system.

A policeman should be able to identify someone carrying a weapon and arrest him. That's not possible when every third guy HAS a gun.

Let's stop drifting towards Third World status. Let's just for once learn something from other First World Nations and ban sales of guns to the public. It took a while for the NRA to sell America on buying guns. It will take a while for a ban to slow the tide of nice, ordinary people thinking they need a gun -- to protect them against who? All the other citizens with guns?