27 killed in US school shooting

Reuters/Newtown, Connecticut

A heavily armed gunman opened fire on school children and staff at a Connecticut elementary school yesterday, killing at least 27 people, including 18 children, in the latest in a series of shooting rampages that have tormented the US this year.

The gunman was dead inside Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, state police Lieutenant Paul Vance told a news conference.

Vance declined to report casualty figures but CBS News said 18 children and nine adults were dead, without clarifying whether the shooter was among those killed. The Hartford Courant reported one entire classroom was unaccounted for.

If confirmed, it would be one of the worst mass shootings in US history. The holiday season tragedy was the second shooting rampage in the US this week and was certain to revive a debate about US gun laws.

The principal and school psychologist were among the dead, CNN said. Witnesses reported hearing dozens of shots with some saying as many as 100 were fired.

The suspected shooter, 24, was armed with four weapons and wearing a bullet-proof vest, WABC reported.  

Three people were taken to Danbury Hospital, about 18km west of the school, a hospital spokeswoman told NBC Connecticut. The mayor of Danbury, Mark Boughton, told MSNBC: “They are very serious injuries.”

Another person was being held in police custody after he was detained in the woods near the school wearing camouflage pants, CBS reported.   

Sandy Hook Elementary School teaches children from kindergarten through fourth grade - roughly ages 5 to 10.

“It was horrendous,” said parent Brenda Lebinski, who rushed to the school where her daughter is in the third grade. “Everyone was in hysterics - parents, students. There were kids coming out of the school bloodied. I don’t know if they were shot, but they were bloodied.”

Television images showed police and ambulances at the scene, and parents rushing towards the school. Parents were seen reuniting with their children and taking them home.

“This is going to be bad,” a state official said, requesting anonymity because the scope of the tragedy remained uncertain.  

President Barack Obama was notified and would receive regular updates throughout the day, White House spokesman Jay Carney said.

“We’re still waiting for more information about the incident in Connecticut,” Carney said when asked about the president’s reaction to it.

Carney called the event “tragic” and said there would be time later for a discussion of policy implications.

Obama remains committed to trying to renew a ban on assault weapons, Carney said.    

All Newtown schools were placed in lockdown after the shooting, the Newtown Public School District said.

Lebinski said a mother who was at the school during the shooting told her a “masked man” entered the principal’s office and may have shot the principal. Lebinski, who is friends with the mother who was at the school, said the principal was “severely injured.”

Lebinski’s daughter’s teacher “immediately locked the door to the classroom and put all the kids in the corner of the room.”

Danbury Hospital, about 18km west of the school, had received three patients from the scene, a hospital spokeswoman told reporters.

A girl interviewed by NBC Connecticut described hearing seven loud “booms” as she was in gym class. Other children began crying and teachers moved the students to a nearby office, she said.