A gunman killed 27 people, 20 of which were children in one of the worst school shootings in U.S. history on Friday morning at a Connecticut middle school.
Connecticut law enforcement officials have confirmed that the suspect in the Connecticut school shootings is Adam Lanza, 20, who is believed to have walked into a classroom at Sandy Hook Elementary School where his mother Nancy Lanza worked as a kindergarten teacher.
The shooter then opened fire, killing 20 total students, most of which were in the same classroom. He shot five other adults, before killing himself inside the school according to a report by the Associate Press.
The shooting occurred less than six years after the worst school shooting in U.S. history. On April 16, 2007 a Virginia Tech student named Seung Hui Cho killed a total of 32 people before killing himself.
A tearful President Barack Obama addressed the nation on the shooting, pausing more than once to compose himself before continuing with his speech.
"We've endured too many of these tragedies in these past few years and each time I learn the news I react not as a president but as anyone else would as a parent and that was especially true today," Obama said during his speech. "I know there's not a parent in America who doesn't feel the same overwhelming grief that I do."
An unnamed official spoke about the shooting under the condition of anonymity that the suspect drove to the scene of the shooting in his mother's car according to the Associated Press. Three guns have been found at the scene which includes a .223-caliber rifle, a Glock pistol and a Sig Sauer pistol. The pistols were recovered inside the school, meanwhile the rifle was found inside the vehicle according to a report by The Chicago Tribune.
Eighteen of the students were pronounced dead at the scene, and two others were taken to the hospital where they passed away shortly after according to The New York Times. The adults shot in the school were pronounced dead at the scene as well.
Lanza's brother Ryan was handcuffed and is being held for questioning as a possible second shooter according to CBS.
Police officials have confirmed that Lanza's mother has also been killed and his girlfriend has been reported missing as of this afternoon.
Newtown is about 45 miles southwest of Hartford and 80 miles northeast of New York City.
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