Slaughter of innocents
The mass shootings at a Connecticut elementary school have triggered fresh calls for America to tackle its gun laws.
PRIME MINISTER John Key has joined other world leaders who have reacted with horror and heartache following the senseless slaughter of 20 schoolchildren, killed in their classroom by a heavily armed gunman who opened fire at a suburban primary school in Connecticut yesterday.
Key expressed his ‘‘dismay at the random, needless and heartbreaking loss of life at the elementary school shooting in Connecticut’’ and sent ‘‘his heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims, the staff and teachers of the school, and the whole Newtown community’’.
Queen Elizabeth II sent a message to President Barack Obama in which she said she was ‘‘deeply shocked and saddened’’ to hear of the shootings.
‘‘ The thoughts and prayers of everyone in the United Kingdom and throughout the Commonwealth are with the families and friends of those killed and with all those who have been affected by today’s events.’’
The heartbreaking deaths of such young, defenceless children seems to be the catalyst for President Barack Obama to tackle America’s gun laws.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, founder of the advocacy group Mayors Against Illegal Guns, said it was ‘‘almost impossible to believe that a mass shooting in a kindergarten class could happen’’.
‘‘We need immediate action. We have heard all the rhetoric before. What we have not seen is leadership – not from the White House and not from Congress,’’ he said. ‘‘That must end today.’’
French President Francois Hollande, in an open letter to Obama, said he was ‘‘ horrified’’ by the shootings. British Prime Minister David Cameron said: ‘‘It is heartbreaking to think of those who have had their children robbed from them at such a young age, when they had so much life ahead of them.’’ UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed his condolences and called the targeting of children ‘‘ heinous and unthinkable.’’
In total 28 people are dead, including seven adults and the gunman himself, making it the second-worst mass shootings in US history.
The 20-year-old gunman, identified
as Adam Lanza, fired what witnesses described as dozens of shots at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown.
Authorities found 18 children and seven adults, including the gunman, dead at the school, and two children died at hospital. Another adult was found dead at a related crime scene in Newtown, bringing the toll to 28, state police Lieutenant Paul Vance said.
As reports of the shooting spread, panicked parents rushed to the school searching for their children as students covered in blood were being carried out of the building.
Obama, wiping away tears and pausing to collect his emotions in an address to the nation, mourned the ‘‘beautiful little kids between the ages of 5 and 10 years old’’ who were killed.
‘‘Our hearts are broken today, for the parents, and grandparents, sisters and brothers of these little children and for the families of the adults who were lost,’’ Obama said, his voice cracking.
‘‘Our hearts are broken for the parents of the survivors as well, for as blessed as they are to have their children home tonight, they know that their children’s innocence has been torn away from them too early and there are no words that will ease their pain,’’ said Obama.
‘‘Evil visited this community Connecticut Governor Dannel told reporters.
Lanza was described as an honours student who lived in a prosperous neighbourhood with his mother, a well-liked woman who enjoyed hosting dice games and decorating the house for the holidays.
Lanza killed his mother at their home today,’’ Malloy before driving her car to the school where she worked. He was armed with at least two handguns while a third weapon, a .223-caliber rifle, was found in the car, and more guns were found inside the school. The guns belonged to his mother.
It was the second shooting rampage in the US in a week and the latest in a series of mass killings this year, and was certain to revive a debate about US gun laws.
Images from the scene showed children being led away in single file, each child’s hands clutching the shoulders of the one in front. Police wearing body armour and carrying rifles swarmed the scene and locked down the school.
Distraught parents converged, frantically searching for their daughters and sons.
‘‘ We can’t believe this,’’ said Kinga Walsh, 47, a mother of four who was Christmas shopping when she heard there had been a shooting at the school.
Obama ordered flags flown at halfmast at US public buildings.
‘‘As a country, we have been through this too many times,’’ Obama said, ticking off a list of recent shootings.
‘‘We’re going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics,’’ Obama said in apparent reference to the influence of the National Rifle Association over members of Congress.
Obama remains committed to trying to renew a ban on assault weapons, White House spokesman Jay Carney said.
The toll exceeded that of one of the most notorious US school shootings, the 1999 rampage at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, where two teenagers killed 13 students and staff before killing themselves.
The US has seen a number of shooting rampages this year, most recently in Oregon, where a gunman killed two people and then himself at a shopping mall on Wednesday.
The deadliest came in July at a midnight screening of a Batman film in Colorado that killed 12 people and wounded 58.
In 2007, 32 people were killed at Virginia Tech university in the deadliest act of criminal gun violence in US history.