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00:00Here's the police chief.
00:03Let's listen in for the latest.
00:06Criminal investigation.
00:08We are limited as to some of the details that we can give out to you for obvious reasons.
00:13First let it be stated that I've told you the number of deceased in the building, at
00:18the hospital, at the secondary crime scene.
00:21It's our policy and protocol that we have to establish positive identification of those
00:25victims.
00:26That is a time-consuming process.
00:28It's something that's going to take a great deal of time.
00:31The medical examiner has already arrived at the scene and is going to work very closely
00:33with us to expedite that and get that done as efficiently as possible.
00:38As I told you, the families have been assigned a trooper or an officer as a line of communication.
00:43That was done specifically to ensure the families that they have constant communication with
00:48this ongoing investigation and they won't have to sit and watch television news or anything
00:53else.
00:54They'll be the first to know any of the progress that's made as this investigation continues
00:59on.
01:00As I stated earlier, the assets that were utilized initially was certainly when the
01:05call came in, Newtown Police Department immediately responded and immediately called for help.
01:10Surrounding local agencies sent officers and the Connecticut State Police sent all off-duty
01:15and on-duty troopers to respond so that they could immediately gain access to that building
01:20and begin that search process that I alluded to before.
01:24We had the state police tactical team, we had K-9 teams out here, we certainly had Trooper
01:29One in the air and it was probably to keep some of your helicopters away, quite frankly.
01:34But we had every possible asset came out to this scene the minute that this alarm came
01:40in or this call came in and it was certainly to do everything we could to protect certainly
01:45life and property.
01:47The community has been outstanding in supporting this effort.
01:50As you can see, you've taken over their park and they're showing up, they're offering condolences,
01:57they're doing everything they possibly can to support the victims, the victims' families
02:02of this horrific tragedy.
02:06The FBI crisis management team is offered to respond, is going to respond here tomorrow
02:11to assist in crisis management, to assist not only with the families, the family members,
02:17with all the first responders, the police, fire, EMS, all working in what I described
02:23before as a very horrific and difficult scene.
02:27Certainly local mental health crisis intervention teams have been on scene and have been here
02:32all of the day working and assisting and helping.
02:36I just want to make it very clear that there were 18 children who were pronounced dead
02:41at the scene.
02:43There were two children who were transported to area hospital and were pronounced dead
02:46at the hospital.
02:48There were six adults that were pronounced dead at the scene and obviously the shooter
02:52was also pronounced dead at the scene.
02:55I don't have much more detail about that secondary scene, but there is a related scene that we
03:00discovered as we were continuing the criminal investigation and specifically investigating
03:06the shooter.
03:07And you probably saw and someone asked me on the way in here about the bomb squad and
03:12Yes, we brought all our assets in in case they were needed.
03:15And when we went out with Newtown officers to search or to execute search warrants or
03:20to examine other possible secondary scenes, we took all those assets with us to ensure
03:24that they were right there immediately so that we could react if it was necessary.
03:29That's about all I have as far as details are concerned.
03:35I want to give you one more briefing, probably just before six o'clock, we'll try to get
03:39back up here for one more briefing.
03:41I'll take a couple of brief questions, but I must again tell you that there are certain
03:45things we cannot discuss at this time and we'll take you right here, sir.
03:48Do we have anyone that was in the hospital now that survived this?
03:52No, sir.
03:53There was one person that was injured that suffered an injury and did survive.
03:57Yes.
03:58Can you confirm the body in the house is a male or an adult male?
04:01I'm sorry.
04:02I can't confirm.
04:03I know about the secondary scene.
04:04I didn't have time to get into detail about that.
04:06I'll try to do that for six o'clock.
04:07What shooter's identity did Adam Lanza confirm?
04:11We're not going to confirm the identity of the shooter.
04:12We're not prepared to do that yet.
04:13So we have a tentative identification.
04:15We're still working with that.
04:16So we're not going to confirm the identity and put that out there.
04:19We will.
04:20We will identify the shooter at an appropriate time.
04:23Just for our investigatory purposes, it's not appropriate to do that right now.
04:26What can you say is happening in Hoboken, New Jersey, in terms of the investigation
04:30there?
04:31Again, it's part and parcel of what we do.
04:32I told you initially that we will leave no stone unturned as we're looking at every facet
04:37of this investigation.
04:39Whether it's the shooter, any of the victims, we're going to look at everything.
04:42And we certainly will go in and out of state and we'll work with fellow law enforcement,
04:46including federal agencies, if we need to, to answer every single question to exactly
04:51what transpired here.
04:52It'll be a time-consuming process, but we'll get it done.
04:58Right now, one shooter, yes, sir.
05:05It was K through four.
05:07Kindergarten through fourth grade, that's the school.
05:12They were all students of that school.
05:16I don't know the grade they were in, I'm sorry, I don't know that.
05:21One section, two classrooms.
05:22I couldn't tell you.
05:23I don't know.
05:24I didn't find that out, I'm sorry.
05:25Your question?
05:26No.
05:27And that's part of the process, and that's why it took us so long to get here.
05:39That's a very good question.
05:40Are there any students that were unaccounted for?
05:42We had to ensure that we accounted for every single student in that school, and that includes
05:46maybe someone that was absent for the day because of illness and didn't come to school.
05:50So that was part of the process that we had to go through.
05:53And now we have the identification process, which is even more difficult, and so it's
05:57going to be some time before we're able to give you that information.
06:00It probably won't be available until sometime tomorrow.
06:03Did you identify some of the parents?
06:05Did we identify a weapon?
06:07We have seized the weapon.
06:08Yes, we have, sir.
06:09We will not discuss that at this time, sir.
06:14We've been in contact with all the parents.
06:15We would not come up here until we've been in contact with all the parents, and we've
06:18been communicating with them since they arrived here at the scene.
06:23They've been fully informed, and that's why it took, again, why it took so long for us
06:26to come up here.
06:27Go ahead.
06:28How are the first responders dealing with all this?
06:29No one would ever expect to walk into a school and see those types of mass casualties.
06:36That's very, very, it's a good question.
06:39Everyone believes that, you know, it's something that first responders do, that law enforcement
06:44does.
06:45But I can tell you, we provided counseling for the first responders because this was
06:49a very tragic, horrific scene that they encountered.
06:53It's not something that we want to see.
06:54It's not something that we see every day.
06:56So that was one, that's one thing that we have done, and the colonel has made that perfectly
07:00clear that those people are to be spoken to and receive crisis counseling as required.
07:06Lieutenant, you probably, you have to be the faith here telling us what's happening, but
07:11Newtown is a very quiet, peaceful place, and I'm sure this is something that it's not an
07:17ordinary thing that you deal with, like big cities.
07:20The lieutenant can certainly tell you he's a Newtown officer.
07:24Sure.
07:25As a person, to see this tragedy of this magnitude, how would you describe it has impacted you
07:29personally, not only as a law enforcement officer, but as a person?
07:34As a person, the first thing I thought about was my own children.
07:40Lieutenant George Cinco.
07:43Lieutenant George Cinco, S-I-N-K-O.
07:55This is most definitely the worst thing that we've had to experience here in town.
07:59Tragic.
08:00But right now, we're concerned about the families of the victims.
08:03Our officers are professional, and we will deal with this as well.
08:09Can you describe the scene with the parents?
08:11Is there a place where people are getting together, and are there counselors there for them?
08:14What's happening?
08:15The local hospital, Danbury Hospital, has offered their crisis intervention counselors.
08:20They will be available at Reed Intermediate School, which is on Wasserman Way, and they're
08:25available right now if need be, and they will be there all weekend.
08:28Is there a place where parents are gathering?
08:31Can you describe that?
08:34The parents certainly have gathered at the local firehouse, which is adjacent to the
08:38school, and we've done our best to comfort them and try to reassure them that we've done
08:43everything we can.
08:44But as mentioned, it's a difficult process to confirm the status of an entire elementary
08:51school, and we need to be right when we do that.
09:01It's healing.
09:03We just have to think about the families right now and do everything we can for them.
09:11We can't confirm any of that right now.
09:13The investigation is ongoing.
09:17There are still parents there, yes.
09:19I don't have a number for you.
09:22I don't have a number for you.
09:30How long did it take for you to realize the magnitude of the scene?
09:33Minutes after our officers were there, they realized, you know, what a horrific scene
09:38we had there.
09:40When you say minutes after they got there, officers, when they realized what they were
09:45dealing with and then called for backup, what did they call for backup?
09:48Upon getting the 9-1-1 call, hearing what they were talking about, do you have a timeline
09:53on that?
09:54I don't have the exact timeline on that.
09:56Family officers responded immediately, and as soon as they realized what they had, we
10:00obviously asked for all the resources we could get.
10:03All right.
10:09What we're going to do is we'll come back about just before 6 o'clock, because I know
10:12a lot of you are around 6.
10:13We'll come back here with one more briefing.
10:15Then what we'll do is we'll schedule briefings probably tomorrow, so some of you folks look
10:19very tired.
10:20I'm sure you want to go get a little rest, so we're going to see if we can give you a
10:23schedule of briefings for tomorrow.
10:25Okay?
10:31All right, so there we have the latest information coming from the Connecticut State Police, from
10:35local law enforcement in Newtown, Connecticut.
10:38I'm Wolf Blitzer.
10:39We want to welcome back our viewers in the United States and around the world.
10:42We're watching what's going on from here in the Situation Room.
10:45It's breaking news.
10:46Unimaginable horror grips the nation in one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S.
10:52history.
10:53A tragedy so wrenching, it reduced the president of the United States to tears.
10:58Right now, 27 people are confirmed dead in Connecticut's Sandy Hook Elementary School
11:03massacre.
11:04Twenty children, six adults, and the alleged shooter.
11:09All of this happening within a matter of a few hours.
11:13Watch this, the sights and sounds of this tragedy as it played out.
11:18When I was getting in my car, I heard sirens going off continuously, car after car after
11:25car.
11:26Some of them were flying up past my house and coming back around again and going to
11:30the school.
11:31This house is three houses away from the school.
11:33When we first arrived there, there was not a lot of security to guard, and there were
11:39three children that came out.
11:41One of them had a very bloody face.
11:44We immediately jumped in the car and headed down here, so it's troubling.
11:49It was really kind of mayhem in the room with all the kids and the teachers, trying to find
11:53your kid, identify where yours is, making sure that they're safe, and then trying to
11:56find out what the situation was and make sure everybody else is safe.
11:59It started with the neighbors and then the rest of their friends in school and that sort
12:02of thing, so it's...
12:09They were immediately crying, you know, petrified of what happened and what did it mean.
12:14And I think they're both older than some of the other kids in the school, so understanding
12:19what happened.
12:20My son was in the gym when it happened, so I think that he heard the gunshots.
12:23We saw police officers and we heard them on the roof and in our building.
12:27Did you hear any gunshots or anything like that?
12:30Well, police officers, they were there kind of, because there's police officers right
12:35out the door trying to find the guy.
12:37It was shocking.
12:39I got the call at work this morning and I can't believe a small town like this would
12:44ever have anything like this happen.
12:46And to be in an elementary school that's unheard of.
12:49Pre-K doesn't even seem real.
12:51It just does not seem like it's even possible.
12:54It's like you, you know, you read it in the paper or see it in the news, you're like,
12:58oh my God, that poor family.
12:59And then you have something happen so close to home, it's like, I think I'm still in shock.
13:05I can tell you that, first of all, obviously our hearts and prayers go out to the victims
13:08of this terrible incident.
13:10Very tragic.
13:11Our police are currently working closely with the Newtown Police Department.
13:15We have mutual aid agreements in place that allow us to provide assets that they may not
13:20have, along with the state police that have taken the lead on this investigation.
13:24It was terrifying.
13:25I'm still terrified.
13:26I think I'm still in shock about it all.
13:28Was everybody crying, scared, wanting their parents to come get them?
13:32Yeah, they were.
13:33They were.
13:34And then some people were even like, they kind of felt they got a stomach ache.
13:38They wouldn't even let us in the building.
13:41All I can say is that one of the cops said it's, you know, the worst thing he'd ever
13:44seen in his entire career.
13:47But it was when they told the parents, all these parents were waiting for their children
13:50to come out.
13:51They thought that they were, you know, still alive.
13:55There's 20 parents that were just told that their children are dead.
14:00It was awful.
14:02Awful.
14:03It's, you can't even imagine how awful it must be for those parents, those loved ones,
14:08those family members in this small town in Newton, Connecticut, a town of under 2,000
14:13people.
14:14This is a small elementary school.
14:17Grades kindergarten through fourth grade, these are five-year-olds through tenure, 10-year-olds,
14:2220 of them gunned down by a killer today.
14:26Six adults killed as well.
14:28Mary Snow is joining us now from outside the suspect's mother's home, we believe.
14:32Is that correct, Mary?
14:34That is correct, Wolf.
14:36And we just left that location, but we've been there several hours throughout the afternoon.
14:42And that, the investigation stretched to that home, and it was being treated as a crime
14:49scene.
14:50We saw SWAT teams there.
14:52And we can tell you that residents near that home were told to evacuate earlier today.
14:59We talked to one neighbor who said she was told at around 11 o'clock this morning by
15:04police to get out right away.
15:07And she still is out of her home, unable to get back into her house.