Children Die, A Nation Cries

On December 14, 2012 a gunman named Adam Lanza killed twenty children and six adult staff members at Sandy Hook elementary in the Sandy Hool village of Newton, Conneticut before committing suicide. This is the second deadliest school shooting in US history, after 2007's Virginia Tech Massacure, second-deadliest attack an American elementary school, after the Bath School diaster in `1927.


What Happened? Voices from the Witnesses

Diane Day, a therapist at the school, was sitting with the principal, a parent and other staff members for a meeting when she heard gunshots.
"At first we heard a bunch of kids scream, and then it was just quiet and all you could hear was the shooting," Ms. Day said.


Principal Dawn Hochsprung and the school psychologist leapt from their seats and ran out to help, Ms. Day said. "They didn't think twice about confronting or seeing what was going on," she said.
Without a lock to secure the door, a teacher at the meeting pressed her body against the door to hold it shut, Ms. Day said. That teacher was shot through the door in the leg and arm. "She was our hero," Ms. Day said.


Carrie Usher, a fourth-grade teacher, said she believed the principal turned on the campus loudspeaker system, which broadcast sounds of "screaming and crying" through the school to warn others. Ms. Hochsprung and the school psychologist, identified as Mary Sherlach, were reported to be among the victims.
Ms. Usher's class, meanwhile, was in the library and they hid in the closet.
"The gunfire was just unbelievable. It felt like it lasted for five minutes," the teacher said. "It wouldn't stop." No one in her class was hurt.


Toni's Thoughts: My heart dropped when a friend of mine told me about the massacure my mother tearfully called me and told me she was glad to hear my voice and she is blessed to have both her son and daughter still here breathing. I work at a childcare facility and immedaitaley I thought about the children I work with and how they have their whole life ahead of them. They look up to me but the ironic thing is they have taught me so much I love to see them smile. We need to wake up something needs to be done about the gun laws in this country point blank period. These children did not bother anyone and love and resepect to the adults that risked their lives to save the surviving children. Children are a gift to the world and I'm sad to know someone was willing to take that away from their family and friends, their community.