School shooting victims named

Shattered families and grieving residents are struggling to grasp the news that most of the 27 people shot dead by a US school gunman were six- and seven-year-old children.

President Barack Obama was due to join vigils in the small Connecticut community of Newtown on Sunday, leading a nation in mourning after this latest massacre that has revived calls for a debate on gun control.

But the political ramifications of the tragedy were far from the minds of most in the picturesque dormitory town of Newtown, where parents of the survivors and the dead alike were struggling to come to terms with the loss.

Robbie Parker, a 30-year-old hospital physician’s assistant who cares for sick newborns, said the death of his six-year-old child Emilie should “inspire us to be better, more compassionate and caring toward other people”.

Parker included the family of the apparent shooter, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, in his condolences, addressing them through the news media to say: “I can’t imagine how hard this experience must be for you.”

Diane Licata described how her six-year-old son Aiden ran past the shooter in his classroom doorway to escape after seeing his teacher gunned down.

Licata told CNN that she had rushed to the school and seen her daughter led out of the building, but there was no sign of Aiden.

“... I’m going to wait for Aiden. I’m going to wait. And he didn’t come out. So you know, when you’re standing there waiting, and no one will tell you anything. It’s an indescribable feeling of helplessness,” she said.

Licata eventually received a text that her son was safe at a nearby police station, and he was later able to explain his escape.

“They heard noises that he described as initially they thought were hammers falling. Then they realised that it was gunshots,” she said.

“And ... Aiden’s teacher had the presence of mind to move all of the children to a distance away from the door on the side of the room furthest away from the door and that’s when the gunman burst in, did not say a word.

“No facial expressions. And proceeded to shoot their teacher.”

A police spokesman said the shooter is believed to have shot his mother at the home they shared before heading to the nearby Sandy Hook Elementary School and launching his attack

An official said the gunman had Asperger’s syndrome, but experts say there was no connection between the disorder and violent behaviour.

Noah Pozner: The six-year-old was one of the victims in the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut on Dec. 14, 2012. Picture: AP Photo/Family Photo

High school classmates described Lanza as bright but painfully shy, anxious and a loner.

He had two handguns, but the coroner told reporters that most of the children and staff were killed by multiple gunshots from his assault rifle, a military-style .223 calibre Bushmaster, similar to the US Army’s M4.

Connecticut Chief Medical Examiner Wayne Carver said such a rifle fires rounds that are “designed in such a fashion that the energy is deposited in the tissue, so the bullet stays in”.

Connecticut State Police, meanwhile, released the ages of the victims, who included 16 six-year-olds and four seven-year-olds.

Twelve of the 20 slain children were girls and eight were boys.

The six adults killed were all women, including the school principal and the school psychologist, who at 56 was the eldest victim.

Emilie Alice Parker. Parker was killed when a gunman opened fire at Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. Picture: AP Photo/Courtesy of the Parker Family

NAMES AND AGES OF THOSE KILLED IN CONNECTICUT ELEMENTARY SCHOOL MASSACRE

Charlotte Bacon, 6
Daniel Barden, 7
Rachel Davino, 29
Olivia Engel, 6
Josephine Gay, 7
Ana Marquez-Greene, 6
Dylan Hockley, 6
Dawn Hochsprung, 47
Madeleine Hsu, 6
Catherine Hubbard, 6
Chase Kowalski, 7
Jesse Lewis, 6
James Mattioli, 6
Grace McDonnell, 7
Anne Marie Murphy, 52
Emilie Parker, 6
Jack Pinto, 6
Noah Pozner, 6
Caroline Previdi, 6
Jessica Rekos, 6
Avielle Richman, 6
Lauren Rousseau, 30
Mary Sherlach, 56
Victoria Soto, 27
Benjamin Wheeler, 6
Allison Wyatt, 6.

Source: Connecticut State Police