Emmanuel Dunand/Agence France-Presse - Getty Images People paid their respects Monday morning at a makeshift shrine in Newtown, Conn. Two children slain in Friday's shootings are being buried today.Two of the children killed in Friday's shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., were buried Monday, as investigators continued to try to piece together the motive behind Adam Lanza's rampage, which claimed the lives of 20 children and six adults at the school and Mr. Lanza's mother before Mr. Lanza killed himself.
Did you hear? Our #facebook page reached 1.7 million “likes†today! Thanks for being a friend! #NRA http://t.co/Dxni9hsv
- NRA (@NRA) 13 Dec 12
Two days after the National Rifle Association boasted on Twitter that its Facebook page had reached 1.7 million likes, the page vanished after the shooting on Friday in Connecticut left 20 school children, six teachers and staff members, and the gunman's mother dead.
The page was still not up on Monday. And there have been no new posts on the association's Twitter account since Friday at 9:36 a.m., when it announced auto emergency kits as a giveaway. The day before, the account posted:
#Florida nears 1 million permits for concealed weapons http://t.co/sfKltC4U
- NRA (@NRA) 13 Dec 12
While the debate over gun restrictions was shifting in some corners in Washington, as our colleagues report, the White House press secretary, Jay Carney, avoided outli ning specific measures to restrict guns on Monday.
At an interfaith service Sunday in Connecticut, President Obama said he would “use whatever power this office holds†to engage citizens in an effort aimed at preventing more tragedies like this.
Meanwhile, a petition calling for President Obama to “immediately address the issue of gun control†was submitted Friday to the “We the People†platform run by the White House.
By Monday, it has gained more than 160,000 supporters, making it the most popular petition since the program began in September 2011.
- Jennifer Preston
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said Monday that state lawmakers should try again to enact a ban on high-capacity gun magazines like the 30-round magazines that Adam Lanza used to fire off dozens of rounds in rapid succession at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
The federal assault-weapons ban, which expired in 2004, prohibited some high-capacity magazines. Last year, Connecticut's State Legislature considered a bill that would have banned magazines that held 10 or more rounds, but it died after hundreds of gun enthusiasts showed up for a hearing on the bill and thousands more contacted legislators, according to The Hartford Courant.
“We could be compliant with the previous assault-weapons ban limitation by going from a 30 magazine to a 10 magazin e,†Mr. Malloy said at a news conference in Hartford. “I think that is a common-sense piece of legislation that can be taken up in the next session.â€
But Mr. Malloy also said that “in the absence of a federal framework in which we limit really the explosive nature of the weapons and ammunition that's used, no state would ever be safe based on simply its own laws.â€
Connecticut has its own assault-weapons ban, dating to 1993, but the model of rifle Mr. Lanza used is not covered under it.
Mr. Malloy took time again to praise first responders in light of the news that Mr. Lanza had hundreds of rounds left when he stopped shooting at others as the police were closing in and turned one of his guns on himself.
“It's pretty clear now that their very quick response saved lives,†he said. “We are grateful to them.â€
Because the responders willingly risked their lives, Mr. Malloy added, “children went home and continued their preparation s to celebrate Christmas or will celebrate Hannukah in the future.â€
- Andy Newman
Here is the eulogy delivered by Veronique Pozner at the funeral on Monday for her 6-year-old son, Noah, as issued by The Associated Press:
The sky is crying, and the flags are at half-mast. It is a sad, sad day. But it is also your day, Noah, my little man. I will miss your forceful and purposeful little steps stomping through our house. I will miss your perpetual smile, the twinkle in your dark blue eyes, framed by eyelashes that would be the envy of any lady in this room.
Most of all, I will miss your visions of your future. You wanted to be a doctor, a so ldier, a taco factory manager. It was your favorite food, and no doubt you wanted to ensure that the world kept producing tacos.
You were a little boy whose life force had all the gravitational pull of a celestial body. You were light and love, mischief and pranks. You adored your family with every fiber of your 6-year-old being. We are all of us elevated in our humanity by having known you. A little maverick, who didn't always want to do his schoolwork or clean up his toys, when practicing his ninja moves or Super Mario on the Wii seemed far more important.
Noah, you will not pass through this way again. I can only believe that you were planted on Earth to bloom in heaven. Take flight, my boy. Soar. You now have the wings you always wanted. Go to that peaceful valley that we will all one day come to know. I will join you someday. Not today. I still have lots of mommy love to give to Danielle, Michael, Sophia and Arielle.
Until then, your melody will linger in our hearts forever. Momma loves you, little man.
- The New York Times
Jessica Hill/Associated Press Gov. Dannel P. Malloy wiped away a tear on Monday as he discussed his decision Friday to tell families that their loved ones were dead.Gov. Dannel P. Malloy described with tears in his eyes Monday his decision to set investigative protocol aside on Friday and tell families who were anxiously awaiting news that their loved ones had in fact died.
“It was evident to me that there was a reluctance to tell parents and loved ones that the person that they were waiting for was not going to return,†Mr. Malloy said Monday afternoon at a news conference in Hartford shortly after he attended the funeral of Jack Pinto, 6.
On Friday, Mr. Malloy said, families were kept in the dark, “well after there was any expectancy that families would be reunited.â€
“So I made a decision,†he continued, “that rather than relying on traditional investigative policies that you actually have a child or adult identified as a particular victim before you inform someone â€"†The governor paused to compose himself.
“I made the decision that to have that go on any longer was wro ng. I did it.â€
Mr. Malloy also spoke of the anguish he felt at Jack's funeral.
“The reality with respect to the relatives is you try to feel their pain, but you can't,†the governor said. “You try to find some words that you hope will be adequate knowing that they'll be inadequate.
“And you see little coffins and your heart has to ache.â€
- Andy Newman
Amazing: guy from California calls general store in Sandy Hook CT. Buys coffee for the whole town of 27 000. http://t.co/HWAha9I9
- Sean O'Shea (@consum ersos) 17 Dec 12
Not exactly the whole town. But Tom Cavanaugh, a writer who works and lives in Los Angeles, gave $125 Monday at the Newtown General Store on Main Street for 100 cups to be handed out to people with his condolences. The store's owner, Peter Leone, thought it was such a good idea that he offered free coffee to everyone.
I just bought 100 Cups of Coffee to be handed out with my condolences to the people of Newtown CT at the Newtown General Store. 203-426-9901
- Tom Cavanaugh (@TommyCinLA) 17 Dec 12
Maxilene Ramos, manager of the Newtown General Store for the la st 15 years, said that she had been fielding phone calls from people all over the world, asking how they could make a contribution to the people of Newtown through the store.
“We just got a call from New York from someone who donated hot chocolates,†Ms. Ramos said.
Another person, she said, paid $500 for food and snacks to be given to police officers and first responders. She said someone else donated candy to be handed out to children. Another caller contributed money to pay for 50 lunches earlier in the day.
“Everybody here appreciates the kindness from people all over the world,†said Ms.Ramos, who is putting together a list of the people who donated to put in the store window. “Everybody is thankful.â€
- Jennifer Preston
Joshua Lott/Reuters Therapy dogs brought smiles to children at the Newtown Youth Academy on Monday.NEWTOWN, Conn. - With the town center and places of worship inundated by the news media with the first funerals, the nonprofit Newtown Youth Academy recreation center became a “sanctuary†for the community to be together on Monday, said Marc Gold, a member of the Hawleyville Volunteer Fire Department.
Until he arrived at the center and found young children playing with their friends and visiting with Santa, “I hadn't stopped crying†since Friday, said Mr. Gold, who had responded t o the scene of the shooting. “This is the only thing that gave me any normalcy back.â€
Peter D'Amico, who lives in Newtown, said he built the recreation center four years ago as a nonprofit community organization. Over the weekend, Mr. D'Amico said he and the town's recreation and sports groups met with school officials and decided to open the center to the community on Monday.
The organizations sent e-mails notifying the town and calling for volunteers.
At 8 a.m., about 200 volunteers, many from the high school, including the cheerleading squad and soccer team, assembled to set up the food and drinks donated by Newtown's merchants, Mr. D'Amico said. “It's a very emotional thing for us to see,†he said.
An hour later children and parents started to arrive, and by midafternoon, Mr. D'Amico estimated, there were about 2,000 people at the center. “We certainly did not expect, we didn't know what to expect, actually,†he said. “It's been just unbelievable. I think the kids playing with their friends and laughing has been a great situation for them.â€
Tim Engel of Portage, Ind., drove for 15 hours with his dog, Barnabas, to be at the community event on Monday. He and other members of the Lutheran Church Charities Comfort Dog Ministry brought their dogs to cuddle with the Newtown children at the recreation center. Mr. Engel said a local church, Christ the King in Newtown, had invited the group.
- Kristin Hussey
Richard Perry/The New York Times The hearse carrying the body of Noah Pozner pulled away from the funeral home in Fairfield, Conn., on Monday.FAIRFIELD, Conn. - Noah Pozner loved tacos, so much so that he told his parents that when he grew up he wanted to be the manager of a taco factory, his mother remembered in a eulogy for her son on Monday. That way, he told her, he would be able to eat as many as he wanted.
He also wanted to be a doctor, she said.
Such were the childish yet boundless aspiration s of a 6-year-old life cut short, mourned in an afternoon service at a Fairfield funeral home. Relatives and friends, neighbors and total strangers crowded into two rows of wooden pews in the main room where Noah's body lay.
Others watched and listened from an adjacent room on a screen.
Uncredited/Family Photo, via Associated Press Noah PoznerSpeaking first after the family rabbi opened the service at 1 p.m., Veronique Pozner maintained a poise that those in attendance said was remarkable for a grieving mother in any situation, let alone one coping with a death as part of a national tragedy.
“She came out and just spoke so well - I think she was trying to help others,†said Myrna Kaufman, who did not know the family but said she felt “as a mother†that she had to come to pay her respects.
Noah's teenage brother, Michael, also spoke, as did several other family members and Rabbi Shaul Praver of Temple Adath Israel in Newtown.
A friend of Michael's, Scott Buchanan, 17, came with his father and mother. They recalled that the young man paused to console himself as he spoke for himself and Noah's twin sister.
“We no longer have a brother,†Diane Buchanan, Scott's mother, recalled Michael saying. “But we now have a guardian angel.â€
She said that as Ms. Pozner spoke, “there wasn't a man, woman or child who had a dry eye, and it was beautiful.â€
Among those gathered were rabbis who had driven from as far as the Catskills and Brooklyn to attend the service in the Abraham L. Green and Sons Funeral Home, a prominent location for Jewish funerals in southwestern Connecticut.
Rabbi Edgar Gluck, who splits his time between Krak ow, Poland, and Borough Park in Brooklyn, said Ms. Pozner spoke of her son as both a good student and one who did not always rush to do his homework.
“But the main thing that she left was one point,†Rabbi Gluck recalled. “She said whenever she told him ‘I love you,' his answer to her was ‘Not as much as I love you.' â€
- J. David Goodman
As a teenager, Adam Lanza, whom the police have identified as the gunman in the Newtown, Conn., school shooting, took six classes at Western Connecticut State University, according to a spokesman for the university.
The spokesman, Paul Steinmetz, confirmed that Mr. L anza was a part-time student from the summer of 2008 to the summer of 2009, but said the circumstances through which he came to the school were not clear. “We occasionally have high-school-age students taking classes here, sometimes if they're precocious and their high school teacher or counselor asks that they be allowed to take a class if they're too advanced for whatever they're being offered in high school,†Mr. Steinmetz said. “Or sometimes it's a home-school situation, just one of the options that the parent is attempting to give the student as they educate them in an untraditional way. It probably was one of those two. But I don't know; as far as I know we have no record.â€
Asked if university files contained any record of concerns about Mr. Lanza, Mr. Steinmetz said: “I have not heard of any and I've not seen any, and I've not talked to anyone who's expressed any knowledge of that. As far as we know there were no concerns.†He said he was not aware o f the student's having visited the school's counseling or health services.
Other news outlets have quoted Mr. Steinmetz as saying that Mr. Lanza got an A in a computer science class and an A-minus in a history class, and that he had a 3.26 grade point average, but Mr. Steinmetz said he could no longer comment on those details. “The attorney general's office has told us that we can't give out that information because of federal student privacy laws,†he said.
Prof. Renate Ludanyi, director of the school's German Studies center, says that according to her grade books Mr. Lanza was a student in her class during the spring of 2009, but her recollections of him are faint. “If at all I remember a quiet kid, a quiet young man sitting by the door,†she said. He dropped out of the class before final grades were distributed, but she says she does not know the reason. She characterized his grade to that point as “medium to not very good.â€
Her inability to remember much about him offered some evidence, she said, of what he was like at the time. “Here or there you get a student who's angry,†she said. “He certainly was not a violent person or not an angry person, or I would have noticed that. My classes are approximately 20 people, not more. Usually I know my students by name. I have conversations with them. He went by unnoticed.â€
- Ariel Kaminer
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has determined that Adam Lanza and his mother, Nancy, visited firing ranges together and separately in recent years, according to a federal law enforcement official.
T he official said the agency knew of only one occasion in which they had attended a firing range together. It has uncovered evidence that they both fired weapons at ranges, although it was not clear whether they had both fired weapons when they attended the range together.
The official would not disclose the name or locations of the ranges.
Ms. Lanza owned at least five guns. Mr. Lanza shot her dead with one of them before his rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
The A.T.F. has roughly 30 agents and other people in Connecticut investigating the shooting, according to the official.
They are interviewing firearm dealers in Connecticut to “get a clear picture of what activities took place†before the shooting, according to the official.
- Michael S. Schmidt
The police in Ridgefield, Conn. said they arrested a man who caused school lockdowns in two towns after he was spotted dressed all in black, wearing a mask and carrying what appeared to be a weapon towards Branchville Elementary School in Ridgefield.
Schools in Ridgefield, 20 miles southwest of Newtown, and three schools in neighboring Redding were locked down for less than an hour Monday morning, and students on their way to Branchville were diverted to a nearby middle school.
The police said the object the man was carrying looked like a samurai sword, but turned out to be an umbrella. It's not clear why he was wearing all black and a mask.
The man, Wilfredo Seda, 22, of Redding, was charged by the Ridgefield police with breach of peace.
Messages left on Mr. Seda's home phone we re not returned.
- Vivian Yee
Video no longer available.
Amid reports from neighbors and classmates that the gunman in the shooting rampage in, Newtown, Conn., had an autism variant known as Asperger syndrome, adults with the condition and parents of children with the diagnosis are fighting what they fear may be a growing impression that it is associated with premeditated violence.
Individual s with autism spectrum disorders, who are often bullied in school and in the workplace, frequently do suffer from depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts. A divorce mediator who met with the parents of Adam Lanza, the gunman, during their divorce told The Associated Press that the couple had said that their son's condition had been diagnosed as Asperger syndrome.
But experts say there is no evidence that they are more likely than any other group to commit violent crimes.
“Aggression in autism spectrum disorders is almost never directed to people outside the family or immediate caregivers, is almost never planned, and almost never involves weapons,'' said Dr. Catherine Lord, director of the Center for Autism and the Developing Brain at NewYork-Presbyterian hospital. “Each of these aspects of the current case is more common in other populations than autism.â€
Dr. Lord said tha t in an unpublished review of data tracking several hundred adults with autism over at least the past five years, she and fellow researchers had found no use of weapons. Among more than 1,000 older children and adolescents in that study, only 2 percent were reported by parents to have used an implement aggressively toward a nonfamily member - fewer than in a control group. That finding was repeated in another set of data that she analyzed over the weekend at the request of The New York Times.
But some of the Twitter messages, electronic postings and media reports in the aftermath of the massacre that has horrified the nation have not reflected that characterization of autism.
“Try curing the real disease, Autism, not the N.R.A.,†wrote one individual on Twitter on Sunday night in response to calls for tighter gun control laws.
“Something's missing in the brain, the capacity for empathy, for social connection, which leaves the person suffering from th is condition prone to serious depression and anxiety,'' said one psychologist on CNN's “Piers Morgan Tonight.â€
In a widely circulated defense of the empathic powers of her 11-year-old son, who has an Asperger diagnosis, Emily Willingham, a science blogger, wrote that “he can't bear to watch people crack tree nuts, like pecans, because being something of a tree nut himself, he feels pain on behalf of the nuts.â€
On the DailyKos, a blogger who identified himself as having Asperger syndrome worried that the actions of Mr. Lanza, 20, who killed 20 young children and 7 adults, including his mother, and was described by a classmate as having a “very flat affect,†might be how “people with this disability are defined in the popular imagination.''
His own flat affect, he explained, does not mean that he has no feelings: “Our emotions don't naturally show on our faces,'' he wrote. “This is perhaps the most frustrating part of the Asperger experience, because people think you're not feeling when you may be feeling even more strongly than they are.''
The roots of autism, a developmental condition characterized by social impairment, communication difficulty and repetitive patterns of behavior, are not well understood. But it is a problem in processing social information, not an intrinsic inability to empathize, that underlies the condition, experts said.
“The media's continued mention of a possible diagnosis of Asperger syndrome implies a connection between that and the heinous crime committed by the shooter,'' said Lori S. Shery, president of the Asperger Syndrome Education Network, an advocacy group in New Jersey. “They may have just as well said, ‘Adam Lanza, age 20, was reported to have had brown hair.'â€
Acc ording to the most recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate, one in 88 children in the United States have an autistic spectrum disorder, whose symptoms range in severity. For a time, it seemed almost faddish to be diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, or high-functioning autism, a condition in which individuals have normal or above-average language skills and intelligence but struggle to observe social rules, like when to make eye contact or to ask a reciprocal question, and to intuit the feelings of others.
Some young adults with the condition proudly branded themselves “Aspies.'' Temple Grandin, the renowned animal scientist who has the condition, was played by Claire Danes in a 2010 HBO biopic; Craig Newmark, the founder of CraigsList, speculated that he would qualify for the diagnosis; and armchair diagnoses were frequently made of Bill Gates and Sheldon Cooper, the theoretical physicist star of the CBS sitcom “The Big Bang Theory.''
The term, said New York Magazine in a recent issue, has come to denote anyone who is “some murky hybrid of egghead and aloof.''
But if there has been some easing of stigma for people with autism in a world that places a high premium on being socially adept, autism advocates worry that affected individuals may now have another reason to avoid disclosing their condition to teachers, employers and community members - often the first step in raising awareness and obtaining helpful accommodations.
“When I tell someone I'm on the autism spectrum, there's always a fear that they will judge me in a negative way because of it,'' said Alex Plank, founder of WrongPlanet.net, a Web site where many individuals with Asperger syndrome have poured out their concer ns in recent days. “Fortunately, people think ‘Temple Grandin' or even ‘Bill Gates' and make a connection in their mind. I'd hate to have someone think ‘Adam Lanza.'â€
Some of the commenters on Mr. Plank's site reflected an insider's knowledge of life with an autism spectrum disorder:one wondered why the public school system was not providing Mr. Lanza with a “transition to adulthood†program through age 21, as required by federal law?
One young man worried about spending Christmas with distant relatives who might have new prejudices about autism. Others used the outlet to express a sentiment that superseded all others.
“Words cannot express the depth of the pain I feel for those left behind who have to bear this loss,'' wrote Lee Anderson, 20, of Cookville, Tenn., whose WrongPlanet profile lists his diagnosis as “Have Aspergers†and his occupation as “H omeschool Student/Paintball Player.â€
“I wish there was some greater way I could help.''
- Amy Harmon
Investigators recovered a computer from Adam Lanza's house, but it is so badly damaged that they are not optimistic they will be able to get any information from it, a law enforcement official said Monday.
The F.B.I., which has more expertise in computer forensics than Connecticut's state forensic laboratory, has been part of the effort to recover data from the computer, the official said.
“It looked like he took steps to damage it, he smashed it, it was smashed,†the official said. “I t was the computer he was using. It was the hard drive and it was damaged to the point that we took a look at it and couldn't get anything off it.â€
Earlier Monday, a Connecticut State Police spokesman, Lt. J. Paul Vance, said that investigators “didn't have any difficulty collecting evidence at all†from Mr. Lanza's home.
Lieutenant Vance said he was not aware of anything missing that he would expect to be there, and not aware of any steps Mr. Lanza took to hamper evidence collection before his rampage, though the lieutenant cautioned that he was not privy to everything seized.
- Michael S. Schmidt and Randy Leonard
Uncredited/Family Photo, via Associated Press Noah PoznerHere is the eulogy delivered at the funeral of Noah Pozner, 6, by his uncle Alexis Haller, of Woodinville, Wash.:
On Friday, Dec. 14, we tragically lost a most beloved member of our family. Noah was a 6-year-old little boy, and he was so dear to all of our hearts.
Words cannot express the unfathomable loss we feel.
Noah was a wonderful son and a loving brother. He was kind, caring, smart, funny and sometimes even a little mischievous. He liked to tell his sisters that he worked in a taco factory; when they asked him how he got to work, he would give them a funny look as if to say he knew something that they did n't.
Noah was a little kid. He loved animals, video games and Mario Brothers. He was already a very good reader, and had just bought a Ninjago book at a book fair that he was really excited about reading. He was also very excited about going to a birthday party he had been invited to. It was to take place on Saturday, Dec. 15.
Noah loved his family dearly, especially his mom, his dad, his big sisters, Danielle and Sophia; his big brother, Michael; and his dear twin, Arielle. He called Arielle his best friend, and she was - and always had been.
If Noah had not been taken from us, he would have become a great man. He would been a wonderful husband and a loving father. He would have been a backbone of our family for years to come. His loss, and our loss, are deep indeed.
It is unspeakably tragic that none of us can bring Noah back. We would go to the ends of the earth to do so, but none of us can.
What we can do is carry Noah within us, always. We can remember the joy he brought to us. We can hold his memory close to our hearts. We can treasure him forever. And all of us, including the family, the community, the country and the world, can honor Noah by loving each other and taking care of each other. That's what Noah would have wanted.
Noah, we love you so much, we miss you dearly, and we will never, ever forget you.
Jason Decrow/Associated Press Veronique Pozner, right, arrived for the funeral of her son Noah Pozner, 6, in Fairfield, Conn., on Monday.FAIRFIELD, Conn. â€" Outside the funeral home where the body of Noah Pozner, age 6, lay, two bomb-sniffing dogs patrolled and police officers stood guard.
Lt. James Perez of the Fairfield Police Department said non-specific threats of protests at the funeral home and “stupid comments†on the Internet and on social media prompted a large police presence on Monday.
Inside, the Pozner family greeted mourners from their temple in Newtown, Adath Israel, as others from surrounding communities - strangers brought together by tragedy - also paid respects.
Rabbi Yakov Barros drove two hours from the Catskills to add his voice to those offering comfort.
“There are not many flowers â€" it's a Jewish funeral,†he said, “but there's a lot of warmth in there, tremendous warmth.â€
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy was inside, an aide to the governor said, as was Senator Richard Blumenthal.
Lieutenant Perez said he had been inside and had spoken with the family. “I can't even put words to the feelings that I felt in there,†he said. “To see it be a child, it's just beyond . . . I didn't have any words for the family.â€
- J. David Goodman
Los Angeles - A Southern California man was arrested Sunday, accused of making threats against local schools on Facebook, the Los Angeles police said on Monday.
The ma n, Kyle Bangayan, 24, was arrested at his parents' home in Pomona, east of Los Angeles, after the police received a tip that he had posted threats on Facebook that he would shoot up schools. While the threats were not directed at any specific school, the police said, they did reference Friday's school shooting in Connecticut.
The police also seized nine firearms from the residence, including rifles, a shotgun, handguns and ammunition. No weapons or related evidence was found at Mr. Bangayan's own residence.
“It was a general threat against after-school tutoring companies, not against a Los Angeles Unified school,†said Commander Andrew Smith, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department. “We are going to take every one of these threats very serious in light of what happened.â€
Charlie Beck, the Los Angeles police chief, was also expected to announce plans later on Monday to increase police presence at the city's public schools.
- Ian Lovet t
A visibly angry Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg demanded on Monday that the nation's lawmakers pursue aggressive new rules to curb the use of guns and firearms, decrying the Connecticut elementary school shootings as an outrage and stating, bluntly, that “we are killing each other.â€
“We are the only industrialized country that has this problem. In the whole world, the only one,†Mr. Bloomberg said at a news conference in New York's City Hall, where he was surrounded by more than two dozen men and women whose family members had been injured or killed by guns.
“Somehow or another, we've come to think that getting re-elected is more important than saving lives, that political power is more important than saving lives,†Mr. Bloomberg said. “Enough.â€
Mr. Bloomberg, a billionaire who has started a super PAC to influence political contests around the country, suggested that he would not hold back on using his personal fortune to combat the spending of pro-gun lobbying groups like the National Rifle Association. “I'm going to do what I think is appropriate to try to impact the dialogue,†he said. “Shame on me if I don't.â€
An engineer by trade who prides himself on keeping a disinterested approach to his job, Mr. Bloomberg displayed an unusual degree of emotion on Monday, loosening his tie at one point and speaking in a gravelly monotone. He cited a lit any of statistics on gun violence, including an estimate that 400,000 Americans have been killed by guns since 1968, more than died in World War II.
Mr. Bloomberg appeared particularly moved as he watched a series of videos, produced by Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a national group that he co-chairs, that include pleas for increased gun control laws from relatives of victims of gun violence. Several of the men and women featured in the ads, which were released on the Web on Monday, stood beside Mr. Bloomberg at his lectern.
Mr. Bloomberg is a longtime advocate of gun control, and he laid out several poli cy goals, starting with the passage of a bill in Congress that would close a loophole allowing weapons to be purchased at gun shows and through private sellers without a federal background check.
The mayor also repeated his call for a federal ban on the sale of heavy-duty weapons, including the types of assault rifles and high-capacity magazines that were used by Adam Lanza, the shooter who killed 20 children and 6 adults in Newtown, Conn., on Friday. The mayor also called for gun trafficking to be considered a felony under federal law.
“If this moment passes into memory without action in Washington, it will be a stain upon our nation's commitment to protecting the innocent, including our children,†Mr. Bloomberg said.
Expanding on remarks he made over the weekend on “Meet the Press,†Mr. Bloomberg once again offered a scathing assessment of national politicians that he described as “cowed†by gun lobbyists.
On Monday, the mayor dismissed the suggestion that the fiscal cliff negotiations in Congress would distract from attempts to pass gun control legislation, saying, “If the Congress and the president can't focus on two things at once, who on earth did we elect?â€
Mr. Bloomberg suggested that the young age of most of the victims of the Newtown killings could be an impetus for change.
“When you see 6- and 7-year-olds as the victims, somehow or another, it goes to your heart a little more,†the mayor said. “My God, what kind of a society do you have?â€
- Michael M. Grynbaum
Emmanuel Dunand/Agence France-Presse - Getty Images Mourners gathered at Honan Funeral Home in Newtown for Jack Pinto's service.NEWTOWN, Conn. - After Jack Pinto's funeral, Nolan Krieger, 8, walked out of Honan Funeral Home rubbing his eyes.
“I used to do everything with him,†Nolan said of Jack, who was 6. †We liked to wrestle. We played Wii. We just played all the time. I can't believe I'm never going to see him again.â€
With that, he headed for his parents' car, and the trip to the cemetery.
- Elizabeth Maker
NEWTOWN, Conn. - Here are more excerpts from the eulogy Mary Radatovich delivered for Jack Pinto, age 6. on Monday.
From the time he could move, Jack wanted nothing more than to catch up with his big brother Ben. He was riding a scooter like a pro at 2 years old and then a two-wheeler shortly after.
He would get on Ben's nerves, as all little brothers do, but the truth is that he was a lot of fun to play with. He would have followed Ben anywhere. Now he will be with you, Ben, for the rest of your life. Think of him every time you catch a football, hit a baseball or hug your mom and dad. He was so proud that you were his big brother and I know that you will continue to live your life in a way that will make him proud.
Dean, Tricia and Ben, you are surrounded by love from all of your frien ds and your precious family. We will be right by your side through the dark days ahead. You have always been the ones who will help everyone else â€" this is the time for us to take care of you.
We love you so much and we all love Jack.
We cannot but feel the pain of losing him, but we will never forget the joy of loving him.
- Elizabeth Maker
The White House has not released photos of President Obama's private meetings on Sunday with members of the families who lost loved ones in the Newtown school shooting. But some family members have proudly shared their photos on social media.
< blockquote class="twitter-tweet">My mom would be SO proud to see President Obama holding her granddaughter. But not as proud as I am of her. http://t.co/YDU88x3O
- Cristina Hassinger (@Chass63) 17 Dec 12
Cristina Hassinger posted this photo on Twitter. She is the daughter of Dawn Hochsprung, the principal of Sandy Hook Elementary School who died after confronting the lone gunman on Friday. Ms. Hochsprung, as the Lede previously reported, was an unusually tech savvy educator who frequently posted Twitter u pdates and photos of her school that conveyed her pride in her staff and students.
A memorial fund has been set up for Ms. Hochsprung.
Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung Memorial Fund
CT Teachers Credit Union
PO Box 2121
Waterbury, CT 06722
http://t.co/TT2HAXbo http://t.co/WxD3jaHJ
- Cristina Hassinger (@Chass63) 17 Dec 12
- Jennifer Preston
Photo courtesy of Shannon Krieger Jack PintoNEWTOWN, Conn. - A woman who gave a eulogy at the funeral of Jack Pinto, age 6, on Monday was kind enough to share it with us immediately afterward. Her name is Mary Radatovich, she is a friend of the Pinto family, and here are some of the things she said.
From the moment Jack arrived in this world, he commanded all the attention in a room. Who could ignore that beautiful energy, the sparkle in his eye, or that spirit that clearly said, “I am here and I am something special�
As soon as Jack started to move it was, “Look out, world! Here I come!†there were moments that seemed so scary at the time yet now seem so mundane.
Visits to the emergency room after deciding to put his head into a bucket that had been filled with chlorine, breaking his arm - all moments that Tricia and Dean anticipated as the first of many because their son was truly “all boy.â€
- Elizabeth Maker
On a morning television program on Monday, friends of Nancy Lanza - the mother of the gunman in the Connecticut shootings, and his first victim - described her as devoted to her son Adam, who shot and killed 20 students and 6 adults in Sandy Hook Elementary School on Friday.
One of her friends, Russell Hanoman, said that she had taught Adam Lanza how to use the guns she owned. “She t old me she had wanted to introduce them to the guns to teach, especially Adam, a sense of responsibility,†he said on the NBC News program “Today.†“Guns require a lot of respect, and she really tried to instill that responsibility within him, and he took to it. He loved being careful with them. I mean, it was a source of pride.â€
Another friend, John Bergquist, said that shooting was “one of her hobbies.â€
“It wasn't her main hobby,†he said. “She loved the arts, culture. She loved the finer things in life. She loved to go to Red Sox games, and that's the Nancy I knew.''
Mr. Hanoman described Mr. Lanza as “clearly a troubled child.â€
“We know that he had Asperger's - Nancy mentioned that to me several times,†he said. “He was very calm, very withdrawn, much like most kids with Asperger's are. I mean, he w as typical in that regard.''
Another friend, Ellen Adriani, said there were times when Mr. Lanza “would isolate himself, things like that.â€
Ms. Lanza “was very conscious of how she would react to him,†Ms. Adriani said. “For an example, one time he was ill, and he just didn't want her in the room. So she stayed outside all night on the carpet of his bedroom, and he periodically would say, ‘Are you there? Are you there?' And she'd always say, ‘Yes I'm here.' So he wanted her there to some degree, but not in his exact, immediate space.â€
- James Barron
Nathaniel Brooks for The New York Times Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo spoke to reporters in Albany.ALBANY - Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said Monday that there were “significant flaws and significant loopholes†in New York's existing ban on assault weapons, and he suggested that he would propose new gun-control measures in his State of the State address next month, though he did not offer specifics.
“There's no question that the law needs to be improved in my mind,†Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, told reporters in Albany. He cited as an example a provision in the state's ban on sales of high-capacity ammunition magazines that allows their sale if they were manufactured before September 13, 1994, calling it a “glaring omission.â€
New York's assault weapons ban permits the type of semiautomatic rifle used in Newtown, Conn., though such guns can be configured in a number of different ways, which would make some versions legal and some not. The State Assembly has approved a tightening of the ban four times since 2008, but it has met resistance in the State Senate.
At a news conference at the Capitol, the governor said the most effective way to combat gun violence was for Congress to take action, because guns can easily be transported between states. He said he hoped, as a first step, Congress would reinstate a federal ban on assault weapons.
“The most efficient, effective vehicle is a federal law,†Mr. Cuomo said. “We have some of the toughest gun laws in the nation, as does Connecticut. But you can buy a gun in another state and drive several miles and that's that.â€
The governor described the problem of gun violence as a multifaceted one, saying lawmakers should also examine mental health services, and suggesting the popularity of violent video games played a role as well.
“I think there's a culture of violence, especially among young people,†Mr. Cuomo said. “Maybe it's always been that way - you know, it was always ‘cops and robbers,' or playing war games. But I think it's a more intense culture of violence. Some of the games, some of the videos, make it so graphic, and they're so pervasive, I believe that's part of this.â€
- Thomas Kaplan and Danny Hakim
There was “no connection†between Adam Lanza and Sandy Hook Elementary School, a Connecticut State Police spokesman said Monday after noon. There had been earlier reports that Mr. Lanza had attended the school as a child. It was not immediately clear if “no connection†meant that Mr. Lanza had not attended the school.
As the investigation into the shootings unfolds, the spokesman, Lt. J. Paul Vance, said at a news conference that investigators “did seize significant evidence†at the home Mr. Lanza shared with his mother.
He declined to elaborate, though, and when pressed by reporters about whether it was computer evidence, said only, “If there is computer evidence - and I strongly say that, if - we do have the computer crimes team in our state forensic laboratory that are expert at retrieving any kind of evidence and data.â€
Lieutenant Vance also said that two people had been wounded in their lower extremities in the rampage. Previous reports said that there was only one wounded survivor.
Toward the end of the news conference, a reporter asked the lieutenant a blunt ques tion. “A lot of people watching at home say, you know, there's no mystery here anymore,†she said, “but there's so much effort being put into the investigation and they might say there'll never be justice, so who are the answers for that you're getting?â€
“The answers are for the poor victims, the families, the people of Connecticut who need to know and see a clear picture as to exactly what happened here,†Lieutenant Vance said. “There are many people, including first responders, including town residents, including people right in this audience, who have broken hearts over this.â€
“We have to do everything it takes to uncover every bit of evidence,†he added, “to paint a clear picture of exactly how and why this tragedy occurred.â€
- Andy Newman
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MSNBC's Joe Scarborough, a former four-term member of Congress from Florida and staunch supporter of gun rights, opened his “Morning Joe†program on Monday with a 10-minute monologue, calling for stricter measures on gun control in response to the massacre in Connecticut, saying “from this day forward, nothing can ever be the s ame again.â€
“You know me,†Mr. Scarborough said, looking directly into the camera. “I am a conservative Republican who received the N.R.A.'s highest ratings over four terms in Congress. I saw this debate over guns as a powerful symbolic struggle between individual rights and government control.â€
He added that things have changed now with “violent, mind-numbing video games and gruesome Hollywood movies that dangerously desensitize those with mental health challenges. And then add in military-styled weapons and high-capacity magazines to that equation, and tragedy can never be too far behind.â€
Mr. Scarborough had invited Joe Manchin III, the pro-gun-rights West Virginia senator who drew attention in 2010 after running a commercial that showed him firing a rifle at an environmental bill, to the program on Monday morning. Senator Manchin announced that he was open to restrictions on guns.
As our colleagues, Jeremy W. Peters and John H. Cush man Jr. report, politicians, lobbyists and policy experts continued on Monday to discuss the prospect of new limitations on firearms.
On the “Morning Joe†program, Senator Manchin, a Democrat and an avid hunter with an “A†rating from the National Rifle Association, said “everything should be on the table†as gun control is debated in the coming weeks and months. “I don't know anybody in the sporting or hunting arena that goes out with an assault rifle,†Mr. Manchin said on the program.
Mr. Scarborough said that it was time for Washington to stop trying to win “endless wars overseas while we're losing the war at home.â€
“Though entrenched special interests are going to try to muddy the cause in the coming days, the cause of this sickening mass shooting - like the others - is no longer a mystery to common-sense Americans. And ble ssedly, there are more common-sense Americans than there are special interests, even if it doesn't always seem that way.â€
- Jennifer Preston
All over the country, students and parents returned to schools on Monday to confront a new, more fragile reality. At several school districts, armed police officers greeted visitors as education officials re-evaluated their security procedures. At many more, teachers navigated the tricky business of answering their charges' questions about the tragedy.
In Ridgefield, Conn., where the police received a call about a “suspicious†stranger dressed in all black walking around a local train station toward Branchville Elementary School just before 8 a.m., schools immediately went into lockdown. Buses carrying students to the school were diverted to a nearby middle school while police officers searched the area around the train station and school. They were allowed to trickle back around noon, after the police determined it was safe.
The Ridgefield schools, just a half-hour drive from Newtown, were already on edge. The superintendent, Deborah Low, announced over the weekend that security guards would be stationed at every elementary school and one middle school for the rest of the year, and that an armed police officer would stand outside each school on Monday. Marked police cars were to patrol around all the schools throughout the week.
In western Pennsylvania, a judge issued a court order over the weekend to allow school police officers in two districts in Butler County to carry guns on Monday. The order expedited a process that had begun a week ago, when one of the districts voted to arm its school police - a me asure that otherwise would have taken months to implement, according to The Associated Press.
Public schools around New York City already require visitors to sign in and show identification to school security guards. But on Monday, principals were asking the Department of Education for heightened security and holding meetings to discuss drills and what, if anything, to tell the children.
At Public School 261 in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, on Monday morning, staff members convened for two hastily scheduled security meetings, meetings filled with questions that had taken on a sudden urgency: Where were the school's evacuation sites, its safety zones? What was the difference between a hard and a soft lockdown? What kinds of drills could the school run to practice for the possibility of an emergency during recess, when most students would be outside?
“We're living in a different world than we were last Monday,†the principal, Zipporiah Mills, told her staff.
- Vivian Yee
Mike Segar/Reuters Mourners arrived for the funeral of Jack Pinto, 6, in Newtown on Monday.NEWTOWN, Conn. - At Honan Funeral Home in Newtown, mourners streamed in carrying colorful flower arrangements and posters plastered with the image of Jack Pinto, a 6-year-old who loved to wrestle, loved football and almost always had a smile on his face, friends said.
“Jack was so full of life and energy, he always made us laugh,†said Jessica Ward of Newtown, whose son Cameron was one of Jack's best friends. “He couldn't wait to get to the next thing. He was always jumping up and down, saying ‘Let's do this, let's do that.' He was just full of excitement and wonder.â€
Shannon Krieger, a c lose friend of the Pinto family, held a poster board with photos of Jack in one hand and wiped tears with the other as she headed into the funeral home, a white Colonial with black shutters decorated with Christmas wreaths and bows.
Ms. Krieger said that the outpouring of support for the family “has been so beautiful,†and she added, “I can't believe what the New York Giants and Victor Cruz did for Jack.â€
Mr. Cruz, the Giants' star wide receiver and Jack's idol, played yesterday's game in shoes on which he'd written “Jack Pinto ‘My Hero'†and “R.I.P. Jack Pinto.â€
Jack is reportedly being buried in a Victor Cruz jersey.
Jack Pinto will, in fact, be laid to rest in a Victor Cruz jersey. We will have more on this a bit later.
- Giants 101 (@Giants_101) December 17, 2012
Ms. Krieger said her family regularly went on vacations with the Pintos to places like Walt Disney World and Martha's Vineyard.
“And we were just planning a trip to â€" “ tears overtook her and she could not finish her sentence.
- Elizabeth Maker
The divorce between the parents of Adam Lanza, the man the authorities say was responsible for Friday's shooting rampage at a Connecticut elementary school, provided generously for Mr. Lanza's care and offered no clues about any medical or mental health issues involving the man accused of carrying out the slaughter.< /p>
According to the divorce papers on file at Stamford Superior Court, the former Nancy Jean Champion filed for divorce from Peter John Lanza in late 2008 citing “irreconcilable differences.†The action was classified as a “limited contested†action, meaning that “only financial or property issues†were being contested. The couple married in Kingston, N.H., on June 6, 1981, and had Ryan John Lanza on April 10, 1988, and Adam Peter Lanza on April 22, 1992.
The court required both parties to attend parenting classes, and both showed proof of completion before the divorce was finalized in September 2009. According to the court-approved settlement, the couple shared joint custody over their minor child at the time, Adam, though his mother was empowered to “make all decisions with respect to the minor child after having consulted with the Father†and was given ultimate authority in the event of any disagreement.
Adam Lanza was expected to “resid e primarily with the Mother,†while the father was promised “free and liberal access to the minor Child at the mutual convenience of the Wife and the Husband.â€
The sweeping settlement they entered into provided generously for the wife and children and covered many details of the family's lives, down to the distribution of their pair of season tickets to nine Boston Red Sox games each year, according to the records. Mr. Lanza awarded the family home in Newtown to his former wife. He was also obligated to provide $240,000 a year in alimony in 2010 and increasing amounts in each year up through 2015, when the annual alimony was set at $298,800. After 2015 through 2023, the alimony figure was to be adjusted “by any increase in the cost of living,†and between 2024 and the date of Mr. Lanza's retirement, the schedule called for the wife to receive $155,000 annually.
According to an affidavit in the file, Mr. Lanza was the sole breadwinner at the time of the divorce, reporting gross income of $8,556 a week at the time of the divorce.
Mr. Lanza was also responsible for the two children's four-year college education and graduate school programs and promised to “provide a car for their son Adam, if and when he shall wish to have one. He also promised to maintain a life insurance policy naming the wife as the beneficiary for $3 million through 2023, and $2 million thereafter.
The agreement also required Mr. Lanza to provide health, medical and dental insurance for the children, although the wife was obliged to pay “all unreimbursed medical, surgical, hospital, optical, psychiatric, psychological and nursing expenses, the cost of prescription drugs, dental and orthodontia expenses.â€
The agreement also dictates that the couple “shall each be entitled to an equal share of the family photographs, home movies and other memorabilia.â€
- Alison Leigh Cowan
FAIRFIELD, Conn. - By 11 a.m., relatives and other mourners of Noah Pozner, 6, began gathering for a private service at a funeral home in Fairfield, Conn., about 25 miles south of Newtown.
On a tree in front of the funeral home, Abraham L. Green and Sons, a handmade sign read “Our Hearts Are With You Noah.†Bouquets of flowers had been laid at the base of the tree, and white balloons lined the street.
A public memorial was set to begin at 1 p.m.
Early in the morning, workers at the funeral home readied the large back viewing room, shooing the growing number of reporters from the parking lot into an adjacent grassy island.
J. David Goodman B'Nai Israel Cemetery in Monroe, Conn., where Noah Pozner, 6, is to be buried today.After the services, Noah is to be buried at B'Nai Israel Cemetery in Monroe, a slow drive north that on Monday was peppered with stone walls, garlanded fences and damp flags hanging at half mast.
The cemetery is a modest patch of land set off from a quiet road and bounded by a row of pine trees. The family would soon gather to bury their too-young son among the dozens of tombstones that described decades of life - an end no one anticipates, yet every parent now dreads.
The land there had settled into a fall quiet early on Monday. A single bird was the only sound.
- J. David Goodman
Charles Krupa/Associated Press A Connecticut State Police tactical team searched the Branchville train station in Ridgefield Monday morning after a report of a suspicious person with a g un near the school.Schools in Ridgefield, Conn., about 20 miles southwest of Newtown, were put in lockdown Monday morning after someone called the police to report that they had seen a “suspicious†man possibly carrying a weapon near an elementary school, the authorities said.
Charles Krupa/Associated Press The Ridgefield police searched a strip mall near the school, Branchville Elementary.No one has been arrested, the police said, though the Norwalk, Conn., newspaper The Hour reported that the Ridgefield police interviewed a man.
The man was reportedly seen near Branchville Elementary School around 8 a.m., the police in neighboring Wilton said.
The school day had not yet started at the Branchville school, so the police closed it, and students who arrived were taken to another school, the Ridgefield police said.
Other schools are open and are on lockdown with students inside, the Ridgefield police said.
- Andy Newman
On a white board at Newtown High School, two teachers left a message thanking President Obama for speaking at an i nterfaith gathering Sunday night in the school auditorium. The president responded. Then one of them, Steven George, who is also the school's football coach, posted the exchange on Twitter with a photo. The tweet is now circulating online around the world.
Myself an pattison left a note to president Obama on my board and he responded!! Here is his response. http://t.co/glWsHDCb
- Steven George (@newtownfootball) 17 Dec 12
“Dear President Obama,
The Newtown community is so thankful that you are coming to help us heal. In times of adversity, it is reassuring to know that we have a strong leader to help us recover.
-Steve George, Teacher/Football coach
-Bob Pattison, Teacher.â€
President Oba ma responded on the board:
“You're in our thoughts and prayers.â€
