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Connecticut School Shooting Kills 20 Children and Six Adults; Further Details and Reaction to Shooting

Aired December 15, 2012 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Don Lemon. You're watching live special coverage from Newtown, Connecticut, the scene of that horrific elementary school rampage.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN ANCHOR: Live at the CNN Center in Atlanta for all of you. I'll be back in a few minutes with the latest we know about the victims of this tragedy. First let's go to Don in Newtown. Don?

LEMON: Deb, thank you. We'll get back to Deb in a minute.

I want to tell viewers where we are right now. At the Newtown Methodist Church just in front of me. This is Churchill road that you're looking at here in Newtown. Just beyond that satellite truck you see down there is a road that leads to the school and it's being blocked off by police, as you can see.

The people here, it is unbelievable to watch their faces and to come into town today and see -- you can see the pain. It is visible on their faces and it is palpable here. And over the next hour as long as I'm on the air here we're going to be as respectful as we can about telling you the story and many things we're going to learn along with you. And so bear with us. We may not get it all right, but we are here to inform you but to be respectful of the victims and the people who are dealing with such a horrific tragedy.

I'd like to welcome our viewers here in the United States and around the world. This is unspeakable what happened in this town yesterday. And 20 children massacred along with six adults at the Sandy Hook elementary school.

Police say the shooter and we'll say his name once in this broadcast, and we hope that is the only time and that is just for the record of journalism, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, and that he killed himself after that rampage. Today, the collective heart of a nation and the world really heavy over this. We grieve for the families, and we grieve at the idea that someone could be capable of such a terrible act. Those who lived through the massacre find it really hard to describe.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARYANN JACOB, LIBRARY CLERK, SANDY HOOK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: It was a lot of -- a lot of really scared parents looking for their kids, a lot of grateful people and you know, neighbors and friends and -- it was -- it was surreal. I don't know. I don't know how to describe it. (END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Let me tell you everything that we know at this hour right now. As Newtown mourns, police say they have identified all 20 children and six adults killed at the school. They told us that the shooter forced his way into the school. And we just got this picture of him from our affiliate WFSB. And we just found out from a law enforcement official that the suspect had some sort of altercation with people at the school just a few days before the killings. Police say the suspect first shot and killed his mother, Nancy, at her home before driving to the school and then opening fire. Authorities tell us that they're making good progress in determining why this horrific crime happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. J. PAUL VANCE, CONNECTICUT STATE POLICE: Our investigators at the crime scene, the school and secondarily at the secondary crime scene that we discussed where the female was located deceased did produce some very -- a very good evidence in this investigation that our investigators will be able to use and hopefully painting the complete picture as to how and more importantly why this occurred.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: To tell you right now, police are also saying that all three guns, not two, were recovered from the shooter's body in the school, the glock, the six Sauer, and the Bushmaster were owned by his mother. Investigators say they know which one he used to kill himself but they won't reveal that information.

All of this has left us with more questions really than answers and some questions we may never get answers to about the possible motive of this shooter. CNN's Mary Snow has a closer look at the suspect for us now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Shortly after the horrific shootings, police and SWAT teams descended on the Lanza home behind me and it's closed off by police. Investigators are now suggesting that they are piecing together information leading to possible answers about how it happened. Lieutenant Paul Vance of the Connecticut state police saying that in his words, good evidence is being recovered but he did not go into detail.

In terms of the weapons used, we do know that three weapons were recovered at the scene of the shooting near the suspect's body. There were two handguns and a semiautomatic rifle. CNN has been reporting that those guns were purchased by his mother, Nancy Lanza. There's not much we do know about Nancy Lanza. We spoke to a neighbor earlier in the day, and she said that she knew her. But there was nothing out of the ordinary that she could see.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was like a normal anybody else in this neighborhood. You know, decorate the house, and the house was always, you know, pristine. A nd I mean, she was just like any other housewife.

SNOW: As for Adam Lanza, former classmates describe him as being a smart student, someone who was quiet. Kept to himself. A neighbor who knew him in recent years described him as troubled.

Mary Snow, CNN, Newtown, Connecticut.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: All right, Mary, thank you very much. I want to bringing in Deb Feyerick. Deb, of course, is in Atlanta leading our coverage from there along with nick who has been getting information on the victims, deb.

FEYERICK: What's interesting is we're slowly learning some of the names of the victims, mostly the adults of this horrific attack. There were 208 children between the ages of five and 10, so young. They died in the shooting spree along with those six adults, many of them educators in the school. The school's principal was one of those, also the school's psychologist. Those twos women ran towards the door when they heard the gunfire to see what was going on to see whether they could have prevented this tragedy that unfolded. Nick Valencia in the CNN Newsroom here in Atlanta, you're learning more about who they were. Nick, what do you have so far?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Deb. It's been an exhausting day, morning and afternoon, as we begin to piece together the details of exactly what happened yesterday morning in Newtown, the site there at Sandy Hook elementary school.

What we do know is 26 people are dead. Of those victims, two names CNN has been able to independently confirm two of those, one being Dawn Hochsprung. She began as the principal around two years ago. She's being described as a serious but affable leader, a tough leader in the right sort of sense, somebody that you would want educating your kids, Deb.

She recently oversaw is the school security system project. Every visitor was required to buzz in that front entrance before entering. We do know now as details unfolded about the suspected shooter that he forced his way into the elementary school, as our Don Lemon was reporting.

Getting back to the Principal Hochsprung, she was an extremely passionate person, passionate about education. She had about 12 years of administrative experience before coming to Sandy Hook elementary school. She believes behind a husband, two daughters and three step daughters.

Also among the victims is Mary Sherlach, 56-years-old. She was a school psychologist, as you mentioned, Deb. And Deb, Mary Sherlach and how Hochsprung both in an administrative meeting. We learned from one parent who told CNN they were there with the advice principal, the principal and the school psychologist when they heard a loud pop, pop, pop noise outside in the hallway, at which point the principal and the psychologist went to investigate and check out what was happening in their school.

We know now that the suspected shooter had burst into the elementary school and those two, the principal and the psychologist went to check it out, but they want did not return.

Also, and I want to be clear about this, Kate Bolduan spoke to a first grader in a classroom that was the site of the shooting. One of the classrooms where the suspected shooter entered, and that first grader told our CNN's Kate Bolduan that he saw his teacher, 27-year-old Victoria Soto shot by the shooter. CNN has been unable to confirm whether or not Vicki Soto is among the victims. That's a picture of her right there, just 27 years old, Deb. She had a handful of years of teaching experience. It's said that she distracted the gunman while her school children, while her students were able to run past that gunman. A lot of people are calling her a hero.

FEYERICK: What's so incredible, the police have not released any of the names of either the children or the adults yet. We have been able to pick up certain names here and there because of people tweeting out their horror and their condolences. The sister of Vickie Soto on her account, "My sister died protecting her students. God, why did you take her?" Another person who we believe is a victim a tweet said "To all of our heroes that were part of this senseless loss of lives, prayers and love." This is sort of a snapshot of life just tragically interrupted and cut short. Nick Valencia in the newsroom, thanks. Get back to us as soon as you have more information on this part of the story. Don?

LEMON: All right, thank you guys very much. I told you that we were here at the Newtown Methodist church. This is Beth Square. We've been seeing people coming in here and wanting to pay respects and just to sort of prop up the people who are here and show support. Kristin and Matt Panichella from Weston, Connecticut.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's about 20 miles away.

LEMON: You've got flowers in your hand. Why?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think the least we could do is come pay respect to the families and to the lives that were lost here.

LEMON: As you think about it, you've got Olivia is one-year-old. Can you imagine what these families are dealing with?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, I think that's been the most heartbreaking part of this whole thing is wanting to be there for them and trying to under the pain they must be going through.

LEMON: Yes. And that's with a child. I don't have a child. But I can't imagine sending my child off to school.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's the worst part. That's the worst part is just putting that backpack on your kid and putting them on the bus and them not coming home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You never think you're never going to see them again. That's the worst part about it.

LEMON: How is everyone around here dealing with it? Your neighbors, are you talking about it? Do they feel the same as you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. My family's been calling, my wife's family been calling us asking us if we knew anybody. I work relatively close in Danbury. I'm sure I haven't heard yet if anybody's been affected by what's happened here, but I'm sure next week I'll probably hear something.

LEMON: You barely opened your mouth before you started to tear up. I can see behind the sunglasses and you see this big lug of guys who can barely get their words out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, it's difficult, especially being so close to home. It makes it even that much more difficult.

LEMON: Yes. What do you say to the folks here, if anything? Is there you can say to them?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know if there really is anything. I guess stay strong but it seems so hard to do that right now. It's still kind of fresh.

LEMON: What would you like the country to know or do to support this community?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Prayers, lots of prayers I think right now, especially the week before Christmas and Hanukkah, and everyone just thought it was going to be something different, I'm sure.

LEMON: Thank you, guys. Thanks for coming on and showing your support.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely.

LEMON: It means the world I'm sure to the folks here. That's Kristin and Matt and their one-year-old Olivia. They are just one among many people who have been showing up here to pay their respects.

And as I said, the church here, the Methodist church open 24 hours and they've asked the media not to interview people. So if they come out and they want to talk like this couple did, then we will talk to them. If you go down here to Beth Square, there's a sign that says "Our Hearts are Broken." It's the street that leads up to the school blocked off by police.

And every single person that I've spoken to, says, you know, it's never this busy here especially on a Saturday or a Sunday. It gets a little bit busy because it is one of the squares here in the town but not this busy. So people are coming here because they're seeing it on television and want to give this community a community group hug, so to speak. So we'll continue to talk to the people coming out here so that you can hear how they're getting support here in Newtown, Connecticut. As I mentioned just a little bit earlier as we sadly have to go back to this gunman. This gunman forced his way into Sandy Hook elementary school. No one let him in voluntarily. He forced his way in. The school recently installed a new security system that locked doors at 9:30 a.m. and visitors were supposed to ring a bell and get clearance from the front office. We don't know whether the shooter burst into the school and started his bloody rampage before or after 9:00 a.m.

Lou Palumbo, a retired Nassau County police officer in New York, he now heads a security agency. Lou, we started this yesterday on the air. Had no idea when we were covering this both of us, I had one line of information that said police are rushing to the scene of a school for a possible shooting, and as you and I were talking yesterday morning, and now this, one more, another school tragedy.

LOU PALUMBO, RETIRED NASSAU COUNT POLICE OFFICER: Don, almost indescribable and difficult to speak to. The real problem is what this is symptom I can of. There's an immense amount of dysfunction in our country. We need to just wrap our arms around it, whether it's our inability to talk about responsible regulation how people acquire firearms, what we need to do to secure our schools, our political system.

You know, we're talking about gun legislation and assault rifle bans. I don't know how we can talk about these things. You have a Republican-controlled house and I'm certain a number of southern conservative Democrats who are not going to vote for any gun laws with this president. You know, we're in a real quagmire here. You would hope at some point sensibility would override this and the two extremes on this platform come to the middle to understand we need to address this problem of the inappropriate manner in which people acquire firearms.

And it isn't just through purchasing them in a gun store. In these last two instances, both in Oregon and now in Connecticut, we had young men in Oregon break into a home and steal an assault rifle. And in this instance, this young man acquired an assault rifle from his home, both of them unsecured. You have to safeguard these weapons. That's one problem we're having here.

That's all -- there's no such thing as single causality. There isn't any magic wand or any gun law that's going to fix this don. This is so disconcerting.

LEMON: Lou?

PALUMBO: Yes.

LEMON: Lou, can we put the guns, a picture of that gun back up. I want to tell of my experience here. Lou, when I was in Colorado covering that theater massacre, the gun that you see at the bottom of the screen, if you can put it back up, that AR-15, you see that?

PALUMBO: That's to be more accurate, that's an M-4 carbine. It's an M-4 carbine. LEMON: OK. I went into a gun store and purchased a gun that looks pretty much like that gun, within 20 minutes, I'm not a resident of the state of Colorado. I don't know what they did with the background check. They looked at my driver's license. I handed them $800 and walked out of the store with a gun that looks like that gun and ammunition. And to this day, it's sitting in the CNN security office. But still, how can someone just walk into a store and 20 minutes later walk out with an assault rifle? How does that happen in this country?

PALUMBO: We have a failed system, Don. I've had this conversation with numerous correspondents and journalists, some of them with CNN. The problem, simply stated, is that with handguns, for example, if you have no criminal history, we're prepared to surrender one to you on a driver's license. In law enforcement, before we arm our police, we vet them a bit differently. You have to go through criminal history check, psychological profiling where we put you through a Minnesota multifaceted screening, Rorschach, word association and interviews with psychologists and psychiatrists.

Then extensive firearms training and in addition classroom training explaining to you use of force. Deadly physical force in particular. The fact that you're capable of walking into certain states in this country and buying weapons of this type without us knowing anything about you is reprehensible. And it's one of the problems that needs to be addressed.

It doesn't have to go in the format of a gun law. You know, my position on this whole topic at this point is it seems to be wrapped around a constitutional right to Second Amendment. I'd love to see the federal government come in and require proper vetting of people that would like handguns, or if you really feel this need, assault rifles so we know something about you little more than the fact you've never been arrested.

And then we go through the educational process of impressing upon you the importance of safeguarding these weapons. This is a big problem. But it can be addressed. The unfortunate part, Don, it's a political issue and it shouldn't be. We're suffering the consequences.

LEMON: It's not and it shouldn't be. It has nothing to do with left or right. And that's what people don't get. If you even talking about this now people on social media are saying "you're such a lefty liberal." I'm not. It has nothing to do with that. It is a common sense issue.

Listen, in that conversation with you and this is a real conversation. I warned the viewers before we're going to have a real conversation here. I showed my ignorance about guns because I don't know, one assault rifle looks the same to me. So someone like me, Lou, who has never taken a gun class, never gone to a gun range except to do a story and maybe shot a gun once or twice in my life, to be able to go in and the ammunition and I could walk out and if I was mad at someone just go fire random at people. I don't understand how that happens in a country. Forgive me, that's not a left or right thing. PALUMBO: Don, I've spent 39 years in the law enforcement community as an active law enforcement agent and I've been protecting people for the past 32 years privately. And a lot of this eludes me, as well.

But what really eludes me is our ability to sit down and come to common ground between the two extremes that exist in the country. One is the NRA that believe if you can see lightning and hear thunder, you should own a gun. And then the extreme left liberals that think we're just going to wave the magic wand and erase 300 million firearms that we have knowledge of today. You need to sit down in the middle.

LEMON: It's not going to happen.

PALUMBO: You're right. That's unfortunately the truth here. That's why in a sense we're spinning our wheels. There is a remedy to the problem. Part of it revolves around our ability to properly vet people and continuous education with people and law enforcement, we are taught and it's impressed upon us the need to safeguard your weapons. The rest of America is on a whole another page. We're on one page, they're on another. We go through one vetting process, they go through basically none. This is the disconnect.

LEMON: Lou, we're going to have to leave it there. I really appreciate the conversation. And I know how you're feeling because I've met your kids and I've met your wife, and I'm sure you hugged them a lot yesterday as well you should. Lou Palumbo, thank you very much.

PALUMBO: Thank you, Don.

LEMON: We know a lot of you may want to help the victims and the families and everyone grieving in the community. And if you want to learn how to do that you can go to our "Impact your World" page at CNN.com/impact, CNN.com/impact.

Deb, I'm going to go back to you in Atlanta. But this is something that's really upsetting to all of us, and I think that we really need to discuss this. Deb Feyerick has some new information on the alleged shooter's mother. What do you have, Deb?

FEYERICK: We are looking into who this woman was, Nancy Lanza, some brand new details about her. She liked to garden, play a dice game with her girlfriends. A neighbor says the Lanzas seemed like a nice normal family. Police say that Nancy's son Adam killed her, shot her to death in her Newtown home before he went to the elementary school. It's not clear why he was going to that elementary school. That is one of the things detectives are trying to investigate. There had been some reports she may have been a teacher there.

CNN's David Ariosto joins me on the phone from Newtown, Connecticut. You've talked with several of the neighbors. How are they describing her?

DAVID ARIOSTO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Deb, you're starting to get sort of an emerging picture of this woman, the mother of the shooter here. And like you mentioned, this is a woman who lived in an affluent neighborhood in Newtown. You travel up the road and it's one of the most picturesque parts of this town in southwestern Connecticut, overlooks a lot of these rolling hills. It seems out of a Robert Frost poem.

But it's the kind of place where neighbors particularly on this one street seem very night knit. Those are their words, and one of the neighbors that I spoke with said like you mentioned, they used to congregate every so often for parlor games, played dice.

And then at the same time, we're hearing these other conflicting reports here, this idea that this is a woman that had several very heavy guns in her possession. She had two sons, moved to the area in about 1998, divorced from her husband and raised her sons thereafter. But the picture that sort of emerges, these two sort of conflicting images of this -- one of this woman who is sort of a quiet, mild- mannered pleasant woman who is gardening during the day and working with landscaping companies in her highly affluent home, and another that was holding on to these fairly heavy duty weapons. The Bushmaster is a weapon that's akin to some of the assault weapons that we've seen in places like Afghanistan. And it just -- it's really sort of a confusing painted picture that's emerged here. And one of the neighbors that I spoke to said very simply, something doesn't quite add up. Deb?

FEYERICK: And what's interesting, David, and I wanted to get to that point because I read that earlier that the neighbors said something simply did not add up. Did the neighbor ever hear her firing the guns? I know the houses are kind of far apart. Did the neighbor ever say that Nancy Lanza had some sort of, you know, argument with her son, that she was complaining about him? Because it appears that they were living together in that home, no?

ARIOSTO: Yes, you know, I asked her that question specifically and the answer was categorically no. This is a woman that was effectively -- let's put it this way. This is not someone she knew well or any of the neighbors knew well. Like any neighborhood, you know maybe one or two houses down or three or four on the other side. But when you look at the entire neighborhood, how many people actually know all their neighbors within their community?

At the same time she did have interactions with this woman, most about the gardening and about landscaping and about dice, not the type of things that would raise questions or any kind of interactions with her son that were in any kind of outward way boisterous or something that you might expect would stem some sort of conflict. So we're continuing to dig out here and hopefully we'll have some more answers for you soon.

FEYERICK: Absolutely. Obviously, when moms kind of get together or neighbors they may say I'm having trouble with my teenager, this isn't going right, that's not going right. But based on the interviews you've been doing and the reporting that hasn't come up yet.

We also do want to clarify that authorities have not yet said that Adam Lanza had any sort of mental illness. There have been reports he may have had some type of an autism disorder. But again, all that has yet to be confirmed. We've got more how to deal with your child's emotions. How do you talk to your kids? An expert gives you tips about what to say. Plus, Don Lemon back with us live from Newtown.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Those children who were at the school at the time of the shooting will certainly have a lot of questions. And parents have to find a way to answer them. And that is why I want to bring in Jeff Gardere to talk about how one explains this tragedy to children. He's a clinical psychologist.

So doctor, before we talk about this explaining this to a child, we've been talking a lot about gun laws in this country and about somehow making sure that they don't get in the hands of the wrong people. I think it's just as important to talk about mental health, a subject that's been coming up over and over and over again. So where do we start here then? Because I guess is nebulous a right, right word or complex is probably the right word when it comes to dealing with mental health issues.

JEFF GARDERE, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Yes, it is very complex. And this brings up a very excellent point and I'm so glad, don, that you're asking this question. You had a previous guest who said look, when it comes to background checks, we have to look at Minnesota multifaceted personality inventory, which gives us a broad spectrum as to who the person is, some of the psychological projective tests and so on. And he is right on with that because right now one of the only questions asked when you're getting a gun permit during the gun application is, have you ever been declared incompetent or have you ever been involuntary placed in a mental institution. And most people will just say no and leave it alone. Then the person will call in a background check with the FBI or some other agency.

But what we know is three million people have been placed in hospitals for psychiatric reasons, but only 90,000 of those people are in that database. So there's a huge hole there.

And so what we're looking at is yes, OK, so let's look at people with severe mental illness. But a lot of times the people that commit these crimes, you can't document that they were in a hospital. They were never in a psychiatric hospital. They were flying under the radar. And we know there have been other instances where people have not been psychotic who have taken matters into their own hands and been involved with mass murders and these have -- these people only have personality disorders and are not psychotic.

So I think we're kind of missing the boat here. There are violent people who don't have severe mental health issues. So just to look at people with mental health issues as being the ones who shouldn't have guns, I think it has to go much broader than that and we have to look at the whole personality, not people just with mental health issues.

LEMON: There you go. OK, and listen, if you're talking about the gun laws in this country and somehow trying to keep them out of the hands of people who are not suitable to own them or oh possess them, the two -- it's not mutually exclusive. One has to do with the other. You want to keep it out of the hands of people that aren't mentally stable. And that's a conversation we should be having around the country and that quite frankly, our Congress should be having, as well.

Let's talk about the children now, the youngest among us, sadly 20 of them died in this. How do you explain this kind of tragedy to a child, especially a child who may have witnessed this, who was in the school?

GARDERE: Well, it's important to know that too often we think children are resilient, and if they're not talking about something then they're not experiencing it. But the kids in that school, the kids in that town and even the kids who are in other cities are processing this, are going through this, and they need for us to reach out to them so the first and most important thing you can do find out what it is that they know about this trauma, what it is that they are thinking about, what it is that they would like to know, and then begin your discussion there instead of going into a straight dialogue or preaching to them as to what has happened and the evils of guns and so on. They may not be there yet. So be where they are, and begin that conversation with them.

And secondly, and most importantly, it's not one conversation, don. You and I have talked about this before. It really is a series of conversations and it's not that you sit here and I'll sit there and let's talk, but it's about doing other activities, cooking with your kids, exercising with your kids, playing with your kids. And then bringing up these series of conversations and making sure it's interactional where they're doing a lot of the talking, you're doing a lot of the listening, but being honest with them and letting them know that this is something very difficult for you to discuss with them, too. And it's OK to say "I don't know" when it comes to certain things why certain things happen, but let's talk about it. Let's try to figure it out together. That's the important thing, the communication.

LEMON: Listen, Jeff, if at this point what happened yesterday in this country all of us witnessing it, if we can't sit down and have a conversation right now, I don't know when we're going to be able to do it. If this doesn't move people to do that, I don't know what will.

GARDERE: Well, we have to strike while the iron is hot. I'm one of the people who said perhaps yesterday it was too soon to be talking about what society needs to do in order to address these issues. It's not too soon now. We want people to grieve. We want them to talk about what they're experiencing. God bless those families there in Connecticut. But we have to begin the discussion now, strike while that iron is hot.

LEMON: Yes. Listen, I understand what you're saying. I think it's disrespectful not to talk about it when 20 kids have died and six adults. I think it's disrespect in not to talk about the issue instead of saying let's not the right time. It is the right time. When is it going to be the right time?

Jeff, thank you very much. I want to get back to Deb Feyerick in Atlanta. Deb has other information, sol stories we're following today.

FEYERICK: OK, thanks, Don. Obviously a very difficult conversation to have with kids, but we start with details on a developing story. Doctors are monitoring Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for a concussion. Clinton apparently hit her head after she fainted. Her office says Clinton was dehydrated from a stomach virus and she's resting comfortably at home. Clinton will work from home next week following her doctor's recommendations. She canceled a trip to the Middle East and North Africa last week because of the stomach virus.

Former South African president Nelson Mandela also recovering right now after having surgery to remove gallstones today. The procedure was successful. He remains hospitalized for a recurring lung infection. The 94-year-old anti-apartheid icon has not appeared in public since the 2010 world cup that was hosted by South Africa.

In Egypt, President Mohammed Morsi cast his ballot today for a new draft constitution. Voters there are deciding whether the controversial document should go into effect. The days leading up to the vote have been marred by many protests and violence. Don now is live in Newtown, Connecticut, with a lot more.

LEMON: Deb, thank you. We'll get back to you. You know this tragedy has sparked a new stage in the debate over gun laws in this country. Some of that debate taking place online. So Josh, you've heard me here online, the people on social media I'm sure hearing me in the break. I get a chance to check it. And guess what, people are eager to have this conversation, even the people who say you know what, the gun laws are fine the way they are now and the folks hog are saying they're not fine the way they are. It's obviously we need to talk about and it would be very disrespectful not to talk about it at this point and social media is doing it.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: People can say what they want whether this conversation should exist right now or not. Cat's out of the bag. People are talking about this. And the debate isn't between people who say gun laws are perfect and don't need to be changed. It's more people who say we need to focus on gun laws while others say we need to focus on things like mental illness. This debate is now becoming a part of the story as the country and the world really feel this trauma.

Let me take you first to a quote we have now, a little piece of sound from an iReporter who says he's a big fan of gun rights.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JASON ASSELIN, CNN IREPORTER: You know, people talk about the Second Amendment. They talk about the right to bear arms. I truly believe in that. I truly believe that America should arm the schools. Our teachers our principals should have -- should have a way to defend our children.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: Suggestions of arming people in schools, actually something a lot of people are putting out there. But I want to bring you an example from the other side, one of our reporter who's wants a whole bunch of new gun laws.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GENNADIY ALEKSANDROV, IREPORTER: First one is owning live ammunition. I think that should be made illegal. People that do own or want to own a gun or some kind of a firearm for the protection of themselves or their family should own one. However, they should not have to have lethal ammunition. There are stun guns, rubber bullets, Taser guns that can be used in a critical situation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: Let me show you a few things coming in on twitter. I know don is having conversations, as well. Here's one tweet to me from Brian. "It amazes me how political this turned political about gun control." One more here, "What we need are armed trained adults in the school system make them safe." We have time for one more. "This is a conversation going on Twitter, "It's sad but people truly don't care if they wanted to end the violence, they had have done something."

Now I'm going to cross across the screen. I want you to all to see how much coverage we have and how powerful some of these photos are. This is a spread we have on CNN.com. It includes photos people including the president all over the country and all over the world mourning in different ways, pictures from a lot of different countries and states all over this country.

So Don, this conversation is already happening, and it does need to be led by people who really know what they're talking about and know the specs of how gun laws currently operate of what needs to be done of what may have or may not have applied in the cases of other recent horrifying incidents. We're seeing an absolutely horrific timeline.

I'll tell you one more thing, with all the mass shootings we have this in country with all the school shootings we have seen, we take you through how many there have been, it's a nightmare. The fact is I have never seen a moment like this in this country in which people seem to be realizing it is so deep, is it is such a huge national problem that it's absolutely time that we act. I think we might see some action this time.

LEMON: It is -- it's -- listen, Josh, I've never seen people as passionate about it on social media. Let's talk more about this, Josh. Don't go anywhere.

Someone says "Salute. I salute you for using this platform to discuss our obscene gun laws and demand a common sense approach. Why should we have a debate about gun control or mental health treatment? There are equally important, commonsense. Keep asking the question. Why isn't this the right time to have a conversation? When would there be a better time?"

Josh, I think social media has it right, right now. If we can't have a conversation at the right time isn't after 20 kids were shot up in the school and killed, then when is the right time? I think social media has it right.

LEVS: The New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, if you're watching us right now, he's applauding. This is a message he and some other people in prominent positions have been pushing for a long time.

The argument has been well, in the wake of such horror, we shouldn't be having this conversation right away. Let's focus on the victims. But while several politicians and people like you and I point out, the conversation doesn't happen a month or two months later. You just on with everything else in the country, and then we have another one, an even worse one.

If the conversation is going to happen, it's going to be at a time when we're feeling this passion. I'm a parent. I'm horrified as I always am every time. The thought there's any human being capable of this shows we've got to do something. I don't pretend to have the answers, but we're journalists and we ask for the answers.

LEMON: If you want to be respectful of the victims then we can do that, but we also can be respectful of the victims by making sure there aren't other victims in the future.

LEVS: Thank you very much.

LEMON: Columbine high school, Virginia Tech, now Sandy Hook elementary -- with every school shooting, every parent thinks it could have been my child. The what, the how, and where this could save your child's life.

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LEMON: I want to give you the very latest now on the school shooting here in Newtown, Connecticut, that left 20 children and six adults dead. All victims of the shooting rampage have been identified. All of those people, the loved ones, they were someone loved ones and they have been identified. Their names are expected to be released shortly.

And police have determined that the suspected shooter forced his way into Sandy Hook elementary school. Police now say three guns were found inside the school near the body of the suspect. They say he killed himself. The guns are a glock, a six Sauer, and a Bushmaster rifle. Police have told us they now know which weapon he used to kill himself but they have not released that information to the media.

A safe town, that's the phrase residents used to describe Newtown, Connecticut, to describe this idyllic New England town. Now, the entire world mourns for Newtown and tries to make sense of this incredible tragedy and the image of the town, like so many lives, are shattered.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was terrifying. I'm still terrified. I think I'm still in shock about it all. I still don't know everything that happened. I know there's some people missing that have been taken to the hospital. I don't know if everyone has been accounted for. It's terrifying. You know, you're rushing over here and you can't get to where you need to go.

MERGEM BACKU, SISTER WAS INSIDE THE SCHOOL: When we first arrived there, there was not a lot of security to guard. And there were three children that came out, one of them was -- had a very bloody face. It was very violent scene and there were two other ones that they were, you know, they were in the arms of a say the trooper. They did not move. Their face was very pale. It was very tragic.

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LEMON: Deb Feyerick is back at the CNN headquarters in Atlanta. Deb, no matter how many times I cover these stories, when I see the family members of some of the victims I wonder how they're even able to talk or how they're even still standing at this point.

FEYERICK: Yes, it takes every ounce of strength you have not to just give up and give in. And a lot of people are going to wrestle with the pain for a very, very long time. We've seen it over and over again, Don.

Never again, we say that after every shooting, but yet, here we are once again. Mass school shootings not just a nightmare but a reality that are becoming all too familiar. And what we're about to show you could save your child's life. Brian Todd talks with an security expert on how to respond.

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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A nightmare scenario for any school security official. Michael Blow has ideas how to avoid mass casualties if a gunman is in your school.

How do you respond if there are kids all around?

MICHAEL BLOW, PRINCE GEORGES COUNTY SCHOOL SECURITY CHIEF: That's where the training comes in.

TODD: He is head of security for prince Georges public schools in Maryland, a former deputy police chief who once had to lock down a school. He took us through an elementary school that officials didn't want us to name, showed us what to do if the nightmare unfolds.

Exits are key. Find the nearest one.

BLOW: Absolutely, absolutely. And it's important to be familiar with the building. That's why again, we encourage just little things, just a building familiarization, just walking the outside of the building so you know if you leave this particular door, if it comes to a creek or parking lot or a busy intersection.

TODD: Adults and students, he says, have to have that exit awareness. But if you're stuck inside, Michael Blow says while bathrooms may be a tempting place to hide at first, not a good idea. As you can see, a very confined space and usually no way out. Courtyards he says are equally tempting but also not the best places because they're often enclosed.

Michael, if this is a classroom, there's a gunman, we've heard shots, we don't know where he is, what do we do? Do we lock, turn lights off, close windows?

BLOW: Certainly, there are a host of things we would do in an emergency that would include locking doors to make sure that we are able to fortify that entranceway as best as we can. Again, if there are no safe alternatives for evacuating the building, and that way if someone was to walk by the room that they won't have an easy site picture of anyone that is in the room.

TODD: Adults in the room, he says, should talk the kids through it as calmly as possible.

What about large rooms like gyms? You go in, avoid it?

BLOW: Again, there's not a lot of places to conceal yourselves but there's a way to get to the other side of the building.

TODD: Blow didn't want to give away too many preemptive security measures but sometimes they use wanding devices to screen students. He says some of the best screening is awareness of who is troubled, who is being bull audio, the radar up for potential assailants.

Brian Todd, Prince Georges County, Maryland.

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FEYERICK: After this all happened yesterday, that was one of the first things that I like so many other parents thought about. That is, you know, are your kids really ready? Do they know where the back exits are? Do they know how to shelter in place? Do they know where to go to hide?

And I think of these children who went into the closets with their teachers while the teachers tried to keep them calm. Imagine the gunfire and these children just covering their ears with their hands not even knowing what to do. Don, we heard that story of that teacher who basically after the shooting stopped and heard a knock on the door saying it's the police open up. She said no, no, no, show me identification and that's when she open the door. Something that simple potentially saved their life had it been someone else, Don.

LEMON: My gosh, it's such a horrific tragedy. Thank you, Deb Feyerick.

Investigators will be back at Sandy Hook elementary school for at least another day or two trying to peas together this horrific puzzle. To give us a better understanding of what happened there CNN's Josh Levs is here with a virtual look at the school.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I want to show everyone this aerial view of the school. There are a few details that are very significant for this investigation. You al will understand it best when you're looking at the school. But I just want to remind everyone this is an elementary school we're talking about. The idea that this is now a crime scene is so horrific.

The first thing to note, the officials, the police are saying they are scouring the entire school, every room of it, every bit of it. In the parking lot, this is their words they say each and every car in the entire lot is being investigated. We do not know if there's something specific they're looking for. We do know they're looking at everything in this entire area.

And a law enforcement official has told CNN the gunman had some kind of altercation with officials a few days before this happened. Another thing has come in today that's very important. We've been following the timeline very closely because in an incident like this a fraction of a minute makes a big difference.

Police put out a statement earlier today saying the initial 911 call came at 9:30 a.m. I want people to understand why this is so important. They said it was about 9:30 a.m. as we understand it, that's the time that the school security system gets placed on and doors are shut. So was something already happening by 9:30? Was the gunman still outside at 9:30? The officials are saying he forced his way in.

So if the system was on, how did he force his way in? Who is does a person force his way in with guns when a school has a security system and then they've said that there were windows that were shattered but not to read into that because when the authorities were called to the scene, they had to burst their way in. So when we see shattered windows, that doesn't mean the gunman might have gone in that way. This raises a great number of questions. We believe the killings were in one area of the school. Clearly authorities believe there's a possibility of finding evidence anywhere within it. And Don, we're staying on top of all those details.

LEMON: Josh Levs, thank you very much. We're going to be here with you all day and pardon the ambulance or the siren going by. We're going to be here with you all day all evening long as the nation mourns. And we're going to be live from Newtown, Connecticut. Our Soledad O'Brien is talking with people here in the community where everybody seems to know somebody impacted by this tragedy. Soledad's up next. Stay with us.

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