USA: Police, crime scene investigators, and medical examiners continue the investigation into the Connecticut school shooting, which left 27 dead / wrap

Record ID: 324599

  • Title: USA: Police, crime scene investigators, and medical examiners continue the investigation into the Connecticut school shooting, which left 27 dead / wrap
  • Date: 16th December 2012
  • Summary: NEWTOWN, CONNECTICUT, UNITED STATES (DECEMBER 15, 2012) (REUTERS) NEWS CONFERENCE WITH CONNECTICUT CHIEF MEDICAL EXAMINER H. WAYNE CARVER II (SOUNDBITE) (English) CONNECTICUT CHIEF MEDICAL EXAMINER DR. H. WAYNE CARVER II SAYING: "I've been at this a third of a century, and it's - my sensibilities may not be the average man, but this probably is the worst I have seen or the worst that I know of any of my colleagues having seen. And that, all the more, makes me proud and grateful to our staff who, to a man, have just behaved most professionally and strongly." REPORTERS AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) CONNECTICUT CHIEF MEDICAL EXAMINER DR. H. WAYNE CARVER II SAYING: "We did not bring the bodies and the families into contact. We took pictures of them - of their facial features. You have - it's easier on the families when you do that. There is a time and a place for 'up close and personal,' in the grieving process, but to accomplish this, we felt it would be best to do it this way and you can sort of - you can control he situation."
  • Embargoed: 31st December 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Crime
  • Reuters ID: LVA2Y7KE1D7FST7SGVV6NS7GKFX
  • Story Text: Investigators continued the gruesome task of identifying the victims and sorting through the evidence left behind at one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history Saturday (December 15).
    Among the 20 children and six adults killed by the gunman at the Sandy Hook elementary school was Dawn Hochsprung, the 47 year old principal. In this photo she is seen posing in the school's library.
    Saturday afternoon, Connecticut's governor spoke about how the sense of helplessness citizens were feeling.
    "Though we could all try, when something as senseless as this occurs, there's precious little anyone can say to the families that will lessen the horror and the sense of loss they feel. We could say that we feel their pain, but the truth is, we can't. When tragedies like this take place, people often look for answers - and explanation of how this could have happened, but the sad truth is there are no answers - no good ones anyway," Governor Dan Malloy said.
    Near the school, Connecticut's Chief Medical Examiner, Dr. H. Wayne Carver II, spoke about the victims. The 20 children were aged between 6 and 7 years old. Twelve were girls and eight were boys. All appeared to have suffered multiple gunshot wounds from the rifle recovered at the scene, Carver said.
    "I've been at this a third of a century, and it's - my sensibilities may not be the average man, but this probably is the worst I have seen or the worst that I know of any of my colleagues having seen. And that, all the more, makes me proud and grateful to our staff who, to a man, have just behaved most professionally and strongly," Dr. Carver said.
    Photos were shown to parents and relatives to confirm their identities.
    "We did not bring the bodies and the families into contact. We took pictures of them - of their facial features. You have - it's easier on the families when you do that. There is a time and a place for 'up close and personal,' in the grieving process, but to accomplish this, we felt it would be best to do it this way and you can sort of - you can control he situation," Dr. Carver said.
    The shooter, identified by law enforcement officials as Adam Lanza, killed his mother Nancy on Friday, then drove to the school where he gunned down another 26 people before taking his own life. His aunt Marsha Lanza said his parents would have sought help for their son if they felt he needed it.
    "If he needed help, I know they would have gotten it for him because they were the type of parents, even when they were married as well as being separated, if the kids had a need, they would definitely feel it," Marsha Lanza said at her home in Illinois.
    The killer's mother, Nancy Lanza, legally owned a Sig Sauer and a Glock, both handguns commonly used by police, and a military-style Bushmaster .223 M4 carbine, according to law enforcement officials, who also said they believed Adam Lanza used at least some of those weapons.
    The death toll exceeded that of one of the most notorious U.S. school shootings, the 1999 rampage at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, where two teenagers murdered 13 students and staff before killing themselves.
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