Schoolchildren shot in the US

At Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, an unknown assailant shot and killed nearly three dozen people, most of whom were children, CNN reports.

Photo: Reuters

According to police, a 20-year-old man entered the school building with two 2.9 mm pistols and opened fire in the hallway on Friday, December 14. According to eyewitnesses, the killer, dressed all in black, wearing a military bulletproof vest and a mask on his face, acted in cold blood and managed to fire at least a hundred shots. At least 27 people died at his hands. Including 20 children aged 5 to 10 years, 18 children died on the spot, two died in the hospital. The criminal died on the spot; it is not known who neutralized him. He was found with a gunshot wound to the head, it is possible that he shot himself.

The identity of the perpetrator has also not yet been revealed; there is unconfirmed information that the man could be the father of one of the school students. According to CNN, the killer is 20-year-old Adam Lanza, who calmly entered the school without arousing suspicion because he is the son of one of the school employees, Nancy Lanza. Later it turned out that he killed his mother at home, and then went to the school, where he shot the children and some of the staff, including the school director.

Photo: Reuters

According to press reports, the criminal had several types of weapons with him. Two pistols, a Glock and a SIG Sauer, were found near the killer’s body, as well as a 5.56 mm Bushmaster M4 assault rifle in a car parked near the school.

Parents of children who were at the school during the shooting rescued school students along with teachers. After the shooting ended and the perpetrator himself died, the school students were taken to the nearest fire station, where relatives picked them up.

Photo: Reuters

Photo: Reuters

US President Barack Obama made a televised address regarding the incident, barely holding back tears. He declared four days of national mourning. Officials and congressmen postponed official meetings. World leaders, including Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain, British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Francois Hollande, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the Pope and others, expressed condolences to the US authorities.

Photo: Reuters

Obama said it was necessary to take concrete action, regardless of political considerations, to prevent such tragedies. It is possible that Obama will again take up tightening the “anti-arms” law. During his first presidential campaign in 2008, when Obama was a senator from Illinois, he advocated for stricter gun control and the return of a ban on assault rifles. The ban was adopted in 1994 and lasted 10 years.

Shootings in American schools are not uncommon. The Washington Post has compiled several facts about guns and mass shootings in the United States.

1. Mommy Jones has been tracking mass shootings for the past three decades. "Since 1982, there have been at least 61 gun massacres nationwide in 30 states from Massachusetts to Hawaii," the organization said in its report. Moreover, in most cases, the killers obtained weapons legally.

2. 11 of the 20 most mass shootings in the last 50 years occurred in the United States.

3. Five of the 11 worst shootings in the United States occurred between 2007 and now. Yesterday's case in Connecticut is not yet included in the list.

4. Most often, armed attacks and shootings occur in the southern United States.

5. In America, the percentage of citizens who own firearms is declining. This is shown on the graph , which takes into account data from 1959 to 2010.

According to CNN, the Connecticut school tragedy may become the second-largest number of victims of all known school shootings in America. In 2007, 32 people died at the University of Virginia. As for elementary schools, the most violent incident is considered to be in Littleton in 1999, when two students shot 13 people and committed suicide.