Twenty-seven people are dead, including 18 children, at a mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. Reports say a lone gunman, Adam Lanza, of New Jersey, entered the school at 9:40 this morning wearing a mask and bulletproof vest and carrying four guns.
Lanza's mother worked at the school, and according to authorities is one of the dead. Many of the dead children were members of her class.
Authorities also say the school principal and school psychologist were also killed.
Neighbors say police are at Lanza's parents' house, where a body was also discovered.
ABC reports that one teacher barricaded the door to her classroom when they heard gunshots outside. "The kids were being so good," said the teacher, Kaitlin Roig. "They asked: 'Can we go see if anyone is out there? ... I just want Christmas... I don't want to die, I just want to have Christmas.' I said, you're going to have Christmas and Hanukkah... I tried to be positive."
President Obama delivered a statement this afternoon, pledging to give Connecticut governor Dannel Malloy "every single resource he needs to investigate this heinous crime," and lamented the loss of life, particularly the young children who were killed.
"They had their entire lives ahead of them, birthdays, graduations, weddings, kids of their own," said Obama, wiping away tears.
While Obama listed others mass shootings and vowed to do whatever is necessary to prevent them, he did not mention gun control legislation during the short statement. He also did not take questions from reporters.
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