With security stepped up and families still
on edge in Newtown, schools are opening for the first time since last week's
massacre, bringing a return of familiar routines — at least, for some — to a
grief-stricken town as it buries 20 of its children.
Two 6-year-old boys were laid to rest
Monday in the first of a long, almost unbearable procession of funerals. A
total of 26 people were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary in one of the worst
mass shootings in U.S history.
While classes resume Tuesday for Newtown
schools except those at Sandy Hook, some parents were likely to keep their
children at home anyway. Local police and school officials have been discussing
how and where to increase security, and state police said they would be on
alert for threats and hoaxes.
Suzy DeYoung said her 15-year-old son is
going back to the high school.
"I think he wants to go back,"
she said. "If he told me he wants to stay home, I'd let him stay home. I
think going back to a routine is a good idea; at least that's what I hear from
professionals."
On Monday, Newtown held the first two
funerals of many the picturesque New England community of 27,000 people will
face over the next few days, just as other towns are getting ready for the
holidays. At least one funeral is planned for a student — 6-year-old Jessica
Rekos — as well as several wakes, including one for teacher Victoria Soto, who
has been hailed as a hero for sacrificing herself to save several students.
Two funeral homes filled Monday with
mourners for Noah Pozner and Jack Pinto, both 6 years old. A rabbi presided at
Noah's service, and in keeping with Jewish tradition, the boy was laid to rest
in a simple brown wooden casket with a Star of David on it.
"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," Noah's mother, Veronique Pozner, said at the
service, according to remarks the family provided to the Associated Press. Both
services were closed to the news media.
"Most of all, I will miss your visions
of your future," she said. "You wanted to be a doctor, a soldier, a
taco factory manager. It was your favorite food, and no doubt you wanted to
ensure that the world kept producing tacos."
She closed by saying: "Momma loves
you, little man."
Noah's twin, Arielle, who was assigned to a
different classroom, survived the killing frenzy.
At Jack Pinto's Christian service, hymns
rang out from inside the funeral home, where the boy lay in an open casket.
Jack was among the youngest members of a youth wrestling association in
Newtown, and dozens of little boys turned up at the service in gray Newtown
Wrestling T-shirts.
Jack was a fan of New York Giants wide
receiver Victor Cruz and was laid to rest in a Cruz jersey.
Authorities say the man who killed the two
boys and their classmates, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, shot his mother, Nancy, at
their home and then took her car and some of her guns to the school, where he
broke in and opened fire. A Connecticut official said the mother, a gun
enthusiast who practiced at shooting ranges, was found dead in her pajamas in
bed, shot four times in the head with a .22-caliber rifle.
Lanza was wearing all black, with an
olive-drab utility vest with lots of pockets, during the attack.
As investigators worked to figure out what
drove him to lash out with such fury — and why he singled out the school —
federal agents said that he had fired guns at shooting ranges over the past
several years but that there was no evidence he did so recently as practice for
the rampage.
Debora Seifert, a spokeswoman for the
federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said both Lanza
and his mother fired at shooting ranges, and also visited ranges together.
"We do not have any indication at this
time that the shooter engaged in shooting activities in the past six
months," Seifert said.
Investigators have found no letters or
diaries that could explain the attack.
Whatever his motives, normalcy will be slow
in revisiting Newtown. Classes were canceled district-wide Monday, though other
students in town were expected to return to class Tuesday.
Dan Capodicci, whose 10-year-old daughter
attends the school at St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church, said he thinks
it's time for her to get back to classes.
"It's the right thing to do. You have
to send your kids back. But at the same time I'm worried," he said.
"We need to get back to normal."
Gina Wolfman said her daughters are going
back to their seventh- and ninth-grade classrooms tomorrow. She thinks they are
ready to be back with their friends.
"I think they want to be back with
everyone and share," she said.
Newtown police Lt. George Sinko said
whether to send children to school is a personal decision for every parent.
"I can't imagine what it must be like
being a parent with a child that young, putting them on a school bus,"
Sinko said.
The district has made plans to send
surviving Sandy Hook students to Chalk Hill, a former middle school in the
neighboring town of Monroe. Sandy Hook desks that will fit the small students
are being taken there, empty since town schools consolidated last year, and
tradesmen are donating their services to get the school ready within a matter
of days.
"These are innocent children that need
to be put on the right path again," Monroe police Lt. Brian McCauley said.
With Sandy Hook Elementary still designated
a crime scene, state police Lt. Paul Vance said it could be months before
police turn the school back over to the district.
The shooting has put schools on edge across
the country.
Anxiety ran high enough in Ridgefield,
Conn., about 20 miles from Newtown, that officials ordered a lockdown at
schools after a person deemed suspicious was seen at a train station.
Two schools were locked down in South
Burlington, Vt., because of an unspecified threat. A high school in Windham,
N.H., was briefly locked down after an administrator heard a loud bang, but a
police search found nothing suspicious.
Lanza is believed to have used a Bushmaster
AR-15-style rifle, a civilian version of the military's M-16. It is similar to
the weapon used in a recent shopping mall shooting in Oregon and other deadly
attacks around the U.S. Versions of the AR-15 were outlawed in this country
under the 1994 assault weapons ban, but the law expired in 2004.
The outlines of a national debate on gun
control have begun to take shape. At the White House, spokesman Jay Carney said
curbing gun violence is a complex problem that will require a
"comprehensive solution."
Carney did not offer specific proposals or a
timeline. He said President Barack Obama will meet with law enforcement
officials and mental health professionals in coming weeks.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, flanked
by shooting survivors and relatives of victims of gunfire around the country,
pressed Obama and Congress to toughen gun laws and tighten enforcement after
the Newtown massacre.
"If this doesn't do it," he
asked, "what is going to?"
At least one senator, Virginia Democrat
Mark Warner, said Monday that the attack in Newtown has led him to rethink his
opposition to the ban on assault weapons.
West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat
who is an avid hunter and lifelong member of the National Rifle Association,
said it's time to move beyond the political rhetoric and begin an honest
discussion about reasonable restrictions on guns.
"This is bigger than just about
guns," he added. "It's about how we treat people with mental illness,
how we intervene, how we get them the care they need, how we protect our
schools. It's just so sad."
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