'27 dead' in Connecticut primary school shooting

[Anthea]

BBC NEWS

As many as 27 people have been killed, including many children, in a shooting attack at a primary school in the US state of Connecticut, US media say.

At least 18 children are among the dead at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, the Associated Press reported.

Earlier, the gunman was reported to have been killed and at least three people were taken to hospital.

This is the second-deadliest shooting in US history, after an attack at Virginia Tech university killed 32.

A news conference is imminent and the state Governor Dannell Malloy is on his way.
Children's 'eyes covered'

Police arrived at the school soon after 09:40 local time (14:40 GMT), answering reports that a gunman was in the school's main office and one person had "numerous gunshot wounds".

Scores of officers at the scene carried out a full search of the site.

Schools across the district were immediately on lock-down as a preventive measure, officials said.

With the death toll rising, it emerged that one entire classroom of students may remain unaccounted for, local sources reported.

Meanwhile, the three people who have been taken to hospital are in "very serious condition", Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton told CNN.

One witness speaking to CNN said that shots were heard coming from the hall. There "must have been 100 rounds" fired, she told the channel.

Local media have reported that firefighters instructed children to close their eyes and run past the school's office as they exited the building.

Other sources suggest that some of the shots were fired in a school classroom.

According to CNN, the shooter's body was in one of the school's classrooms.

LIVE REPORTS
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/20734267

[Piling]

Free sale of guns… Now I suppose some pro 'My Gun Is My Right' would say 'if those children have been armed it would have not happen'.

[Anthea]

Free sale of guns… Now I suppose some pro 'My Gun Is My Right' would say 'if those children have been armed it would have not happen'.

How could anyone kill 18 little children. I am still in shock.

[Anthea]

Truly shocking: in 2009 (latest yr) 31,347 killed by firearms in US. Almost as many as road accidents.

Man thought to have killed his father at home then gone to school where his mother worked and killing his mother and one complete classroom full of children among dead

[Lepzerin]

26 were killed in the school, the 27th was the mother of the perpetrator who was killed first in their home.

The father was not killed or involved in anyway. He is separated from the perpetrator's mother and was living away from the city.

The weapons used were apparently his mothers, who was described as a "gun enthusiast" and according to her sister, preparing for an economic collapse or something and felt that she had to stock her house with weapons and supplies. She had taken the son to a gun range too in order to, quite ironically, instill in him a sense of responsibility and get him interacting with other people.

The problem is multifaceted, there's a lot to do here with the guns themselves (Kurdish regions are stocked to the brim with guns, but you don't see these kind of mass killings happen) as it is about the mental state of the people who carry these out. The NRA which defends "gun rights" in the US says that their solution is to instead staff schools with armed police, so I imagine the gun industry will be happy with that since it means easy contracts to outfit the police who go there.