On Saturday, Newtown, Conn. officials released the names of the 20 children and six adults slain in last Friday’s shooting spree at Sandy Hook Elementary School. According to initial reports, all of the children killed in the attack were between 6 or 7 years old, while the adult victims ranged in age from 27 to 56.
State police say 12 of the young victims were female and eight were boys. All six of the slain adults were female.
H. Wayne Carver II, the state’s chief medical examiner, said it appears as if the victims were all killed using the same firearm. “All the wounds that I know of at this point were cause by the one weapon,” he told CNN.
At a news conference, Carver said while examining seven bodies, he observed that each victim had been shot anywhere from three to 11 times by the alleged gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza.
“I believe everyone was hit more than once,” he said.
Postmortem examinations of the children have been completed, he said, with most of the adult victims examined on Saturday evening. Examinations of the alleged gunman and his mother, Nancy — found dead in her Newtown home and believed to be the first victim of her son’s rampage — are scheduled to conclude before the end of the weekend.
Investigators have said Lanza attempted to purchase a firearm at a Dick’s Sporting Goods in Newtown earlier in the week. The weapons Lanza allegedly used in the massacre were all legally purchased by and registered to Nancy Lanza, ABC News reports.
Several law enforcement officials said the alleged gunman was involved in an altercation at the school on Thursday.
Lieutenant J. Paul Vance, Connecticut police spokesman, said Lanza forced his way into the school on Friday morning, and that investigators had uncovered “some very good evidence” regarding possible motives for the attack, according to The New York Times.
Photo via CNN’s livestream
