The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting occurred on December 14, 2012, in Newtown, Connecticut, United States. Adam Lanza, 20, shot and killed 26 people, including 20 children between six and seven years old, and six adult staff members. Lanza then committed suicide by shooting himself in the head. Incident is the deadliest mass shooting at an elementary or high school in U.S. history, and the fourth-deadliest mass shooting overall.
About Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in brief
The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting occurred on December 14, 2012, in Newtown, Connecticut, United States. Adam Lanza, 20, shot and killed 26 people, including 20 children between six and seven years old, and six adult staff members. Lanza then committed suicide by shooting himself in the head. The incident is the deadliest mass shooting at an elementary or high school in U.S. history, and the fourth-deadliest mass shooting overall. The shooting prompted renewed debate about gun control in the United States, including proposals to make the background-check system universal, and for new federal and state gun legislation banning the sale and manufacture of certain types of semi-automatic firearms and magazines with more than ten rounds of ammunition. A November 2013 report issued by the Connecticut State Attorney’s office concluded that Lanza acted alone and planned his actions, but provided no indication why he did so, or why he targeted the school. Lanza had Asperger syndrome and as a teenager suffered from depression, anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder, but concluded that they had neither caused nor led to his murderous acts. Under Connecticut law at the time, the 20-year-old Lanza was old enough to carry a long gun, such as a rifle or shotgun, but too young to own or carry handguns. The guns he used had been purchased legally by his mother. The school’s security protocols had recently been upgraded, requiring visitors to be individually admitted after visual and identification review by video monitor.
Some of those present heard the initial shots on the school intercom system, which was being used for morning announcements. Principal Dawn Hochsprung and school psychologist Mary Sherlach, and lead teacher Natalie Hammond went into the hall to determine the source of the sounds and encountered Lanza. An aide heard gunshots. A teacher hiding in the math lab heard school janitor Rick Thorne yell, \”Put the gun down!\” Lanza killed both HochSprung and SherlACH. A substitute kindergarten teacher, Diane Day, was wounded in the attack. While a teacher was closing the door in the gymnasium, she was shot in the leg and then sustained another gunshot wound. She was later treated at Danbury Hospital. A nine-year old boy stated that he heard the shooter say: ‘Put your hands up!\” and someone else say ‘Don’t shoot!’ Lanza shot his mother’s Bushmaster XM15-E2S rifle and ten magazines with 30 rounds each, and was wearing black clothing, yellow earplugs, sunglasses, and an olive green utility vest. Investigators later found her body clad in pajamas, in her bed, with four gunshot wounds to her head. She had been a therapist who had been at the school for a few months and was a substitute teacher for the school day before the shooting. A faculty member who was at the meeting said that the three women called out \”Shooter! Stay put!\” which alerted their colleagues to the danger and saved their lives.
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This page is based on the article Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 08, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
