Newtown stands still to remember
NEWTOWN, Conn. — One week after a gunman forced his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School, killing 20 children and six adults, this grief-wrenched town and the nation stopped to commemorate the precise moment of the attack that has shaken this country to its core.
To the sound of tolling bells, 26 mournful peals, officials gathered Friday in the cold and wet to remember the tragedy. Outside Town Hall, Newtown residents and visitors huddled next to local and state officials and police as the church bells began sounding.
After the echoes rang across Main Street, silence fell. All that could be heard was the pelting rain, a weeping woman and a few cars driving slowly past.
The inclement weather drenched mountains of teddy bears, f lowers and candles across the city. Joe Saleem and a friend struggled to protect the memorials with plastic tarps.
“I’ve been through divorce. I’ve had a great friend commit suicide. But honestly, I’ve never felt this kind of pain in my life,” Saleem said through tears.
Saleem lives in Charlotte, N.C., but used to live a few miles from Newtown. He said he drove up when he heard about the shooting and planned on staying another couple of weeks.
“I just didn’t know what to do, but I knew I had to do something,” he said as the wind picked up. “Every little town realized it could happen to them.”
Those at Town Hall included Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, the town selectmen, first responders and Lt. J. Paul Vance, the face and voice of the criminal investigation of Adam Lanza, the gunman who killed himself after opening fire at the school. Lanza, 20, began his rampage by killing his mother in the home they shared.
At the firehouse, used as a staging area after the massacre, about 20 people gathered to observe the moment of silence.
Just before 9:30 a.m., eight firefighters in Sandy Hook, a neighborhood of Newtown, emerged from the firehouse in yellow gear, some holding their hats, and joined in front of the memorial there. They stood silent for several moments in the rain. A few hugged bystand- ers. One wiped at his eyes, wet with rain and tears. Then they filed back inside.
Chip Carpenter, also in fire gear, stood watching the group. A volunteer with Sandy Hook fire and police, he responded on the day of the shooting and later learned he knew one of the teachers killed. He has been out here every day at 5 a.m. trying to preserve the memorial.
“We have lost so much,” he said as one of the 26 Christmas trees behind him toppled. “We’re here every morning just trying to keep it together. It’s the beginning of closure.”
Friday morning was particularly tough, he said.
“There’s just so much we have to do. I was so despondent this morning — I just sat down and cried for the longest time,” he said. Still, he came back. “When you think you just don’t have any more and you’re exhausted, you al- ways seem to have more strength,” he said, and then left to console a weeping visitor by showing her the growing memorial display, which stretched about a block from the firehouse.
Nearby, Mia Ajro, 22, had just finished adding her contribution to the memorial: 27 white foam angels bearing the names of the dead.
Ajro, who works about 25 miles away in Morris, drove south to Sandy Hook on Friday to honor those killed. She and two friends had also hoped to join a memorial walk advertised on Facebook, although no one seemed to be walking, just standing in place, contemplating the memorial.
“I feel like everybody should pay their respects to the teachers and the kids,” she said. “It’s worldwide, affecting everybody because it was innocent children. I have family in Macedonia that were questioning me about it.”
Funerals, which have persisted in the Newtown area all week, continued Friday with seven services, memorials and visitations planned. The funerals will continue Saturday.
In Washington, President Obama observed a private moment of silence in the Oval Office, the White House said.