Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting

Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting
Police at the scene of the shooting
Location of Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut
LocationSandy Hook Elementary School, Newtown, Connecticut, U.S.
Coordinates41°25′12″N 73°16′43″W / 41.42000°N 73.27861°W / 41.42000; -73.27861
DateDecember 14, 2012 (December 14, 2012)
c. 09:35 – 09:40:03 a.m. EST (UTC−05:00)
TargetStudents and staff at Sandy Hook Elementary School
Attack type
Weapons
  • .223 Remington Bushmaster XM-15-E2S semi-automatic rifle
  • 10mm Auto Glock 20SF semi-automatic pistol (perpetrator's suicide)
  • 9mm SIG Sauer P226 semi-automatic pistol (unused)[6][7]
  • .22LR Savage Mark II bolt-action rifle (murder of the perpetrator's mother at home)[8]
  • 12-gauge Izhmash Saiga-12 semi-automatic shotgun (unused; left in car)[7][9]
Deaths28 (27 at the school, including the perpetrator; and the perpetrator's mother at home)[1][2]
Injured2[3]
PerpetratorAdam Lanza[4][5]
MotiveUndetermined[10]
Litigation
  • Wrongful death lawsuit against Remington Arms settled for $73 million[11]
  • Defamation lawsuit against Alex Jones and InfoWars, settled for $965 million[12]

On December 14, 2012, a mass shooting occurred at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, United States. The perpetrator, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, shot and killed 26 people. The victims were 20 children between six and seven years old, and 6 adult staff members. Earlier that day, before driving to the school, Lanza fatally shot his mother at their Newtown home. As first responders arrived at the school, Lanza killed himself with a gunshot to the head.

The incident is the deadliest mass shooting in Connecticut history and the deadliest at an elementary school in U.S. history. The shooting prompted renewed debate about gun control in the United States, including proposals to make the background check system universal, and for new federal and state gun legislation banning the sale and manufacture of certain types of semi-automatic firearms and magazines which can hold more than ten rounds of ammunition.

A November 2013 report issued by the Connecticut State Attorney's office stated that Lanza acted alone and planned his actions, but provided no indication of why he did so, or why he targeted the school. A report issued by the Office of the Child Advocate in November 2014 said that Lanza had Asperger's syndrome and, as a teenager, suffered from depression, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorder, but concluded that these factors "neither caused nor led to his murderous acts". The report went on to say, "his severe and deteriorating internalized mental health problems [...] combined with an atypical preoccupation with violence [...] (and) access to deadly weapons [...] proved a recipe for mass murder."[13]

  1. ^ Barron, James (December 15, 2012). "Children Were All Shot Multiple Times With a Semiautomatic, Officials Say". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 16, 2012. Retrieved December 17, 2012.
  2. ^ "20 children among dead at school shooting in Connecticut". CBC News. December 14, 2012. Archived from the original on December 14, 2012. Retrieved December 14, 2012.
  3. ^ "Police: Second person injured in Connecticut school shooting survived". NBC News. Archived from the original on April 16, 2016. Retrieved December 17, 2012.
  4. ^ Llanos, Miguel (December 14, 2012). "Authorities ID gunman who killed 27 in elementary school massacre". NBC News. Associated Press. Archived from the original on December 16, 2012. Retrieved December 14, 2012.
  5. ^ Jennings, Natalie (December 14, 2012). "Mark Kelly: Action on guns 'can no longer wait'". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on December 15, 2012. Retrieved December 17, 2012.
  6. ^ "What would have prevented Lanza from mass murder at Sandy Hook?". The Washington Times. November 25, 2013. Archived from the original on December 20, 2013. Retrieved December 24, 2013.
  7. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference CTSP-20130118 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ "Conn. school shooter had 4 weapons". CBS News. Archived from the original on December 15, 2012. Retrieved December 15, 2012.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference Newtown shooter's guns: What we know was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Ferguson, Christopher (November 27, 2013). "Adam Lanza's motive a mystery in Sandy Hook killings". CNN. Archived from the original on November 27, 2013. Retrieved July 17, 2024.
  11. ^ Fernando, Christine (February 15, 2022). "Sandy Hook families agree to $73 million settlement with gunmaker Remington". USA Today. Archived from the original on February 15, 2022. Retrieved February 15, 2022.
  12. ^ "Connecticut court upholds $965m verdict against Infowars' Alex Jones". The Guardian. Associated Press. December 7, 2024.
  13. ^ Report of the Office of the Child Advocate, p.9, section 36
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