Updated, 1:05 p.m.
Newtown Police Lt George Sinko told reporters that there is a tenative plan to resume classes for Sandy Hook students, but that the department and the Superintendant of Schools wants to "move forward very slowly and respectfully."
When asked whether Sandy Hook staff and students could ever return to the building one day, Sinko said it was too early to say, but that he "would find if very difficult for them to do that."
Updated, 12:53 p.m.
Lt. Vance told reporters that safety for all schools in Connecticut is being examined by Gov. Malloy.
"There are many plans for emergency purposes in place to ensure the safety of all schools in Connecticut," he said. "All of them are being reexamined and certainly all parents in Connecticut should, in fact, be confident that law enforcement—state police, local police, the educators, the leaders of the school system—are doing everything they can to make sure that the schools in Connecticut are safe."
Updated, 12:33 p.m
Vance stressed to reporters during Sunday's press conference that the police do not have plans to release a timeline of the shooting while the investigation is ongoing because it would be "inappropriate."
Vehicles parked within the secondary crime scene outside of the school are beginning to be released their owners as that portion of the investigation comes to a close, Vance said.
Updated, 12:22 p.m.
Lt. Vance told reporters that although there is nothing new to report, the investigation is "moving forward" and that evidence has been collected is currently being analyzed.
Vance said that the weaponry recovered from the scene is being traced all the way "back to the work bench when they were being assembled."
He added that autopsy results from the Chief Medical Examiner's Office of the last two victims of the shooting could possibly be released Sunday afternoon.
Updated, 12:03 p.m.
Police said Sunday morning warned that misinformation about Friday's deadly shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary is being posted on social media web sites.
Vance said there have been instances of people posing as the shooter on Facebook pages, with "threatening and inaccurate" information.
Vance said these actions are a possible violation of state and federal laws, and people behind these messages could be prosecuted.
Updated, 12 p.m.
During a press conference Sunday morning, Connecticut State Police Lt. Paul Vance told reporters that officers are still at the scene actively working to collect evidence, but that there is nothing new to report that is relative to the investigation.
Original Story
Though officials released some harrowing details of the nightmare that six adults and 20 first-graders endured before they were killed inside a Newtown elementary school Friday—how, when, with what and where they were shot and whether the victims suffered for long—many expect that on Sunday they’ll start to get an answer one question that’s eluded investigators: Why?
Regarding the shooter’s motive, state police have said that they collected “good evidence” at Sandy Hook Elementary School as well as at the neighborhood home of suspected gunman Adam Lanza. He's the 20-year-old who is said to have shot and killed his mother before blasting his way into the school at about 9:30 a.m. Friday, fatally shooting 26 people and then himself.
Multiple media outlets have reported the three guns carried into the school by the gunman as legally registered to his own mother—another piece of this unfolding tragedy that police are expected to address Sunday.
At a media conference late Saturday where some reporters pressed the head of the Connecticut Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for details, a gruesome vision emerged about where the children and six adults were shot, how many times and even what the kids wore to school that tragic day.
Dr. H. Wayne Carver II, the office’s chief, said he expected to finish autopsies on the shooter and his mother early Sunday. State police have said doing so would allow them to confirm the gunman already widely identified in the media. At least as importantly, police have said they’re using evidence collected at both scenes to piece together a “puzzle” that may address the difficult question of motive.
Jack Hornak, a Newtown resident for 35 years and member of St. John's Episcopal Church, told Patch that his questions include: How come here? How come now? Why?
"You run the gamut of crying, anger," Hornak said as he welcomed fellow supporters into the church for a special prayer at noon Saturday.
Asked to describe the emotions he is feeling, Hornak said, "Numbness. I find myself just staring."
"Right now I'm crying," he added, tearing up. "In 20 seconds I'll want to hit a wall."
Parents such as Margaret Keayes, a mother of five, are grappling with questions about what caused the tragedy. Keayes, whose children attend a different Newtown school, came to Saturday’s press conference, saying she looked into her own kindergartener’s face and thought of those that had perished.
“It's hard to understand that,” Keayes said of the shooting. “I don't think we ever will, and I don't think we have to. But we do need to help those families that are in need right now.”
Keayes described Newtown’s response to those affected by the tragedy as “incredible,” including an offer of counseling sessions to all community members.
Late Saturday, the White House reported that President Barack Obama would travel to Newtown to meet with victims’ parents and to thank first responders.
Parents in town had mixed reactions to that news.
Lorraine Chappell said that though she doesn’t think any one person really can help, “I guess it might help that he does care. He was visibly upset.”
Meanwhile, Brian Cummings, an electrician who has lived in Sandy Hook since 1977, said that a visit by Obama wouldn’t mean much to him.
Roy Low, a father, said he would have liked Obama to come to town Friday.
“I don’t think it’s going to do anything [for the community],” Low said of the president’s visit. “It’s going to be a long time before this community can get back to where it belongs. If it ever gets back.”
