By: Associated PressNEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) - Authorities have released the names of the 26 people gunned down in a rampage at a Connecticut elementary school.
All six adults killed at the school were women. Of the 20 children who were shot to death, eight were boys and 12 were girls. All the children were ages 6 or 7.
RELATED | Names, ages of those killed in rampage: http://tinyurl.com/ccpdqay
The victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting were shot multiple times by semiautomatic rifle, the medical examiner said Saturday, and the deaths were classified as homicides.
The examiner, Dr. H. Wayne Carver, called it a "devastating set of injuries." He said he examined seven of the 20 children killed, and two had been shot at close range. When asked how many bullets were fired, he said, "I'm lucky if I can tell you how many I found."
RELATED | A glimpse of those who died: http:// tinyurl.com / bo9ussy
Police said they had found "very good evidence" they hoped would answer questions about the motives of the 20-year-old gunman, described as brilliant but remote, who forced his way into the school and killed 26 children and adults in one of the world's worst mass shootings.
Witnesses said the gunman, Adam Lanza, didn't say a word as he shot children as young as 5 years old and later killed himself. Police, however, said Saturday they had not officially identified the shooter.
Reaction was swift and emotional around the world, any many immediately thought of Dunblane -- a 1996 shooting in that small Scottish town which killed 16 small children and prompted a campaign that ultimately led to tighter gun controls.
Pressure to take similar action built on President Barack Obama, whose comments on the tragedy were one of the most outwardly emotional moments of his presidency.
"The majority of those who died were children -- beautiful little kids between the ages of 5 and 10 years old," Obama told a White House news briefing, struggling to keep his composure. He promised "meaningful action" on the issue of mass shootings, "regardless of the politics."
Stunned residents and exhausted officials continued Saturday to fill in the details of the attack.
The school's well-liked principal, Dawn Hochsprung, was killed while lunging at the gunman as she tried to overtake him, town officials said. Board of Education chairwoman Debbie Liedlien said administrators were coming out of a meeting when the gunman forced his way into the school, and they ran toward them.
Asked whether Hochsprung is a hero, the chairman of the town's Legislative Council, Jeff Capeci, said, "From what we know, it's hard to classify her as anything else."
In Newtown, a small and picturesque New England community about 60 miles (95 kilometers) northeast of New York City, hundreds of people packed St. Rose of Lima church Friday night and stood outside in a vigil for the 28 dead -- 20 children and six adults at the school, the gunman's mother at home, and the gunman himself.
Just 10 days before Christmas Eve, people held hands, lit candles and sang "Silent Night."
"People in my neighborhood are feeling guilty about it being Christmas. They are taking down decorations," said Jeannie Pasacreta, a psychologist who was advising parents on how to talk to their children.
Connecticut state police Lt. Paul Vance told reporters Saturday that investigators had found "very good evidence" and hoped it would answer questions about the gunman's motives. Vance would not elaborate.
However, another law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that investigators had found no note or manifesto of the sort they have come to expect after murderous rampages.
Just one person, a woman who worked at the school, was shot and survived -- an unusually small number in a mass shooting -- and Vance said her comments would be "instrumental."
Investigators had not found evidence after talking with state gun dealers and gun ranges that the gunman trained for the attack or was an active member of the recreational gun community, U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms spokeswoman Ginger Colbrun said.
Lanza is believed to have suffered from a personality disorder and lived with his mother, said a law enforcement official who was briefed on the investigation.
Lanza shot his mother, Nancy Lanza, drove to the school in her car and shot up two classrooms Friday morning, law enforcement officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
A custodian ran through the halls, warning of a gunman, and someone switched on the intercom, perhaps saving many lives by letting them hear the chaos in the school office, a teacher said. Teachers locked their doors and ordered children to huddle in a corner or hide in closets as shots echoed through the building.
Maryann Jacob, a clerk in the school library, was with 18 students when they heard gunfire outside the room. She had the children crawl into a storage room, and they locked the door and barricaded it with a file cabinet. There
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