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US
school victims mostly six years old
SHATTERED families and grieving residents are
devastated that most of the 27 people shot dead by a US school gunman are children aged just six and seven.
President Barack Obama is due
to join the vigils in the small Connecticut community of Newtown on Sunday, to
lead national mourning after this latest massacre that has revived calls for a
debate on gun control.
But the political
ramifications of the tragedy are far from the minds of most in this picturesque
town, where parents of the survivors and the dead are struggling to come to
terms with the stunning loss.
Robbie Parker, a 30-year-old
hospital assistant who cares for sick newborns, says the death of his loving
six-year-old Emilie should "inspire us to be better, more compassionate
and caring toward other people."
He 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."
Robert and Diane Licata
described how their six-year-old son Aiden ran past the shooter in his
classroom doorway to escape after seeing his teacher gunned down - and
recounted their desperate search for him.
Diane Licata told CNN she had
rushed to the school to see her daughter led out of the building but there was
no sign of Aiden.
"So the kids start to
come out and when I saw her, you know, the sense of relief is incredible, but
it's really short-lived because I still have one in there. And I'm waiting for
him to come. And he didn't come out," she said.
"When you're standing
there waiting....it's an indescribable feeling of helplessness."
Aiden was later able to
explain his escape.
She said his class heard
noises that initially sounded like hammers.
"Then they realised that
it was gunshots."
"Aiden's teacher had the
presence of mind to move all of the children to a distance away from the
door... and that's when the gunman burst in," Licata said.
The gunman had "no
facial expressions" she said, adding that he "proceeded to shoot
their teacher."
Many US children are taught how to react during an emergency,
so Aiden and his classmates quickly made their way to the door where the gunman
was standing and ran past him. Some of them survived.
"He (Aiden) really,
really, really cared about his teacher. He knows that she's been hurt but he
doesn't know the end result. He knows the kids that he saw getting shot."
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 .223 calibre Bushmaster, a civilian
version of the US military's M4.
Lanza's father Peter expressed
shock and grief at the horror caused by his son.
"No words can truly
express how heartbroken we are," he said in a statement vowing to continue
co-operating with law enforcement.
"We, too, are asking
why?"
Connecticut State Police
released the identity of the victims, aged six to 56.
They 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's principal and its psychologist.
The motives of the shooter
are still the biggest mystery.
Asked whether any suicide
note, emails or other clues to the killer's mind had been found, Connecticut
State Police spokesman Lieutenant J Paul Vance said investigators have gathered
"some very good evidence."
Lanza was a shy, awkward and
nerdy boy but hadn't apparently given any warning sign that he was a mass
murderer.
The weapons, news reports
said, were registered in his mother's name but she was widely seen as an
upstanding resident in the town.
The tragedy drew messages of
support from around the world, and candlelight vigils are being held.
Of all US campus shootings, the toll was second only to the 32
murders in the 2007 massacre at Virginia Tech University .
The latest number far
exceeded the 15 killed in the 1999 Columbine High
School
massacre, which triggered a fierce but inconclusive debate about gun control
laws in the United
States .
However, the White House has
scotched any suggestion that the politically explosive subject would be quickly
reopened.
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