The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Gunman planned even more killing
THE GUNMAN in the US shooting rampage shot his mother four times in the head before gunning down 26 people at an elementary school.
Details also emerged last night emerged suggesting that Adam Lanza planned an even more gruesome massacre but was stopped short.
Lanza blasted his way into the school building in Newtown, Connecticut, and used a highpower rifle to kill 20 children and six adults, including the principal and school psychologist who tried to stop him.
Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy said Lanza shot himself after about 10 minutes of shooting as first responders entered the building.
An official said Lanza had “lots of ammo”.
“We surmise that it was during the second classroom episode that he heard responders coming and apparently at that, decided to take his own life,” Malloy said in a TV interview.
As President Barack Obama prepared to visit and churches opened their doors to comfort a grieving town, federal agents fanned out to dozens of gun stores and shooting ranges, chasing leads they hoped would cast light on Lanza’s life.
AMONG THE questions: Why did his mother, a well-to-do suburban divorcee, keep a cache of high-power weapons in the house? What experience did Lanza have with those guns? And, above all, what set him on a path to shoot and kill 20 children, along with the adults who tried to stop him?
Malloy offered no possible motive for the shooting and a law enforcement official has said police have found no letters or diaries left behind that could shed light on it.
Lanza shot dead his mother, Nancy Lanza, at the home they shared on Friday. She was shot four times in the head and found in her bed wearing pyjamas.
Lanza then drove to Sandy Hook Elementary School in his mother’s car with at least three of her guns, forced his way in by breaking a window and opened fire, authorities said. Within minutes, he killed the children, six adults and himself.
All the victims at the school were shot with a rifle, at least some of them at close range, and all were apparently shot more than once, said chief medical examiner Dr Wayne Carver. There were as many as 11 shots on the bodies he examined.
Lanza died of a gunshot wound to the head.
All six adults killed at the school were women. Of the 20 children, eight were boys and 12 were girls.
Parents identified the children through photos to spare them some shock, Carver said.
The terrible details about the last moments of the young victims emerged as authorities released their names and ages.
They included Victoria Soto, a 27-yearold teacher who apparently died while trying to hide her pupils; and principal Dawn Hochsprung, who authorities said lunged at the gunman in an attempt to overtake him.
Residents and faith leaders reflected yesterday on the mass shooting and what meaning, if any, to find in it. Obama planned to attend an evening interfaith vigil, the fourth time he will have travelled to a city after a mass shooting.
In the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI told pilgrims and tourists that he is praying for the families of the victims.
“I assure the families of the victims, especially those who lost a child, of my closeness in prayer,” the pope said. “May the God of consolation touch their hearts and ease their pain.”
The gunman’s father, Peter Lanza, issued a statement.
“Our family is grieving along with all those who have been affected by this enormous tragedy. No words can truly express how heartbroken we are,” he said.