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CNN Saturday Morning News

Names of Victims to be Released This Morning; Heroic Teachers Saved Countless Lives at Sandy Hook; Questions About the Guns Used and Mental Health of Shooter; Profile of School Shooting Victim Psychologist Mary Sherlock

Aired December 15, 2012 - 07:00   ET

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

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. I'm Ali Velshi. You're watching our special coverage of the Connecticut school shooting. I'm in Newtown, Connecticut, about a block away from the school, which is roughly behind me, a block away from the scene of the horrible massacre.

Here's what we know right now. In about an hour, officials are expected to start releasing the names of the victims. We've learned the names of two of the adults, the principal and a school counselor, but not the names of the children.

Now, that is expected to start happening at around 8:00 a.m. right where I am. Right now, the bodies are still inside the school. Police say it's an active crime scene and that means the shooter's body is still there, as well. Police say 20-year-old Adam Lanza was the shooter. They also say his mother's body was found inside the home that they shared together about 2 1/2 miles from here.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm John Berman in the town square here in Newtown. Flags flying at half staff here all around the country to honor those lost at the elementary school shooting here in Newtown, the Sandy Hook Elementary School. President Obama offered his own thoughts this morning in his weekly address -- thoughts on the tragedy, and thoughts on guns.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: On Friday, we learned that more than two dozen people were killed when a gunman opened fire in an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. Most of those who died were just young children with their whole lives ahead of them. And every parent in America has a heart heavy with hurt. Among the fallen were also teachers, men and women who devoted their lives to helping our children fulfill their dreams.

So our hearts are broken today. We grieve for the families of those we lost. And we keep in our prayers the parents of those who survived, because as blessed as they are to have their children home, they know that their child's innocence has been torn away far too early.

As a nation, we have endured far too many of these tragedies in the last few years. An elementary school in Newtown, a shopping mall in Oregon, a house of worship in Wisconsin, a movie theater in Colorado, countless street corners in places like Chicago and Philadelphia -- any of these neighborhoods could be our own. So we have to come together, and we're going to have to take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this from happening, regardless of politics.

This weekend, Michelle and I are doing what I know every parent is doing, holding our children as close as we can and reminding them how much we love them. There are families in Connecticut who can't do that today. And they need all of us right now, because while nothing can take the place of a lost child or loved one, all of us can extend a hand to those of us in need, to remind them we're there for them, that we're praying for them, and that the love they felt for those they lost endures not just in their own memories but also in their communities and in their country.

Thank you and God bless you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELSHI: We are learning chilling details of what happened when the gunman burst into Sandy Hook Elementary School. Some of those details are coming from young survivors, children who were in that school during the rampage and who were able to escape.

Here's CNN's Brian Todd.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The account of a young boy said to be delivering an attendance report to the office at Sandy Hook Elementary School when the shootings took place is surreal.

UNIDENTIFIED BOY: I saw some of the bullets going past the hall that I was right next to, and then a teacher pulled me into her classroom.

TODD: He said he heard a sound like someone kicking a door. His mother clinging to him had words of thanks.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm so grateful to the teacher who saved him.

REPORTER: You think the teacher saved his life?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She definitely did. He had bullets going by him and she grabbed him and another child and pulled him into a classroom.

TODD: Brendan Murray, a fourth grader described the chaos.

BRENDAN MURRAY, STUDENT, SANDY HOOK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: I was in the gym at the time and so, the teachers, we heard like lots of bangs and we thought that it was the custodian knocking stuff down. We heard screaming. And so, we -- we went like to the wall and we sat down.

And then police came in. And it was like, "Is he in here?" And he ran out. And our teachers -- when somebody yelled, "Get to a safe place", so we went to the closet in the gym and sat there for a little while. And then the police were knocking on the door and were like, we're evacuating people. We're evacuating people.

TODD: CNN is only airing sound of children whose parents gave permission, as one woman walked away from the school she was heard crying why, why.

A policeman was heard saying it was the worst thing he'd seen in his career.

A nurse from nearby Danbury Hospital described the scene there as parents waited for word about their children.

MAUREEN KERINS, NURSE, DANBURY SCHOOL: Parents, all these parents were waiting for their children to come out. They thought they were, you know, still alive. And there's 20 parents that were just told that their children are dead. It was awful.

TODD: The father of a young girl who survived was just trying to process it all.

JOE WASIK, SURVIVOR'S FATHER: It was shocking. I got the call at work this morning and -- I can't believe a small town like this would ever have anything like this happen. And to be in an elementary school, it's unheard of.

TODD: By late Friday afternoon and into the evening, evacuated children were being cared for and reuniting with their parents at a nearby fire house.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELSHI: We're also getting a lot of questions about how you can help those affected. If you want to help, go to CNN.com/impact -- John.

BERMAN: Thanks so much, Ali.

Of course, as everyone knows, our focus as much as it can be is on victims, the 20 kids, six adults killed at the Sandy Hook Elementary School. But there is an investigation going on right now. There are so many questions. And we're learning more now about the suspected shooter in this case. Police say his name is Adam Lanza.

CNN's Mary Snow is at Lanza's home. That's where police say they also found the body of his mother.

Mary, what can you tell us right now about the suspected shooter?

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, it's believed that he lived with his mother at the home that is behind me now blocked off by police. And in terms of descriptions of him, one neighbor described him as troubled. Former classmates described him as very bright, someone who kept to himself, socially awkward.

And now, we're also learning from our -- CNN's Susan Candiotti that a law enforcement official told her that a family member of Lanza told investigators that he had a form of autism.

BERMAN: Mary, what do we know about the guns? The weapons that he used in the shooting? We understand there were two pistols, also a rifle perhaps found in the car.

SNOW: And law enforcement officials so far are saying is that -- what CNN has learned is they were legally purchased by his mother, Nancy Lanza.

BERMAN: All right. Mary Snow, thank you so much. We'll be checking in with you all morning.

Ali?

VELSHI: You were talking about the guns, John. Let's focus in on the weapons used on the attack.

Our national correspondent Susan Candiotti has that part of our coverage -- Susan.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We're trying to get down to the bottom a bit more about this man, this shooter, Adam Lanza, 20 years old. We know, according to our sources, that when he came to that school, he was armed with three guns. He was wearing what is described to me as black battle fatigues and a military vest.

Now, where did he get these three guns? And what kind were they? The three guns were two handguns, a Glock, and a Sig Sauer, as well as a .223 that's called a Bushmaster. Now, this is a semiautomatic gun. We've got photographs of the type of weapon it is.

We understand from our sources that these guns were all registered belonged to his mother, his mother who was also killed.

Now, the mother's body was found in the house where a family home here in this area. We don't know much more about -- about Adam Lanza.

We do know that his brother Ryan who was a bit older, 24 years old, he was taken in to custody for questioning. He is not being called a suspect, but he was in Hoboken, New Jersey, when they brought him in for questioning -- that's where he lives -- to try to find out what if anything he knew about this, what he could tell them about his brother, what information they -- he can give about his background.

And police also questioned their father. He still lives in this area. He is divorced from his wife who was one of the victims here, and he has remarried. So, he, too, is being questioned by police to try to shed some light on Adam Lanza and why, why this tragedy happened.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELSHI: Susan Candiotti, thanks for that.

A lot of questions are forming around the shooter's mother Nancy Lanza. She was a registered owner of the three weapons as Susan just told us. Guns similar to these as we're showing you now, a Glock revolver, a Glock pistol, I'm sorry, a Sig Sauer pistol, and a semi- automatic .223 Bushmaster rifle.

I'm joined by former FBI assistant director, Tom Fuentes. He's also a CNN contributor.

Tom, let's talk about -- there are a lot of questions about the assault rifle first. This was legally purchased by Nancy Lanza, along with the two others found. Tell me why she would need a semiautomatic, and what the laws are around acquiring one?

TOM FUENTES, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, Ali, the laws are that you could acquire it. There had been a ban in place for a while which began during the Clinton administration. But it was allowed to expire and it's not been renewed. So, anybody that could go and buy a pistol pretty much can go and buy one of these weapons.

That Bushmaster .223, that's the same caliber of bullet that our military carried in Vietnam and since it's used in the M-16 and M-4 automatic rifles. In this case, you would have to keep pulling the trigger, it would be fully automatic, but you can fire as many bullets as quickly as you can pull the trigger with that gun and with the two handguns.

VELSHI: And for the benefit of our viewers, who are not familiar with guns. The term semiautomatic means you keep pulling the trigger, you don't hold it down once, it doesn't repeatedly fire, but you don't have to do something to shoot again.

FUENTES: That's correct. And in the case of a semiautomatic pistol, as opposed to revolver, the bullets are fed in through a magazine and they can range in size from seven or eight rounds to 15 rounds.

The two guns you've been showing pictures of would appear to be the 15-round standard sized magazines for those guns. But you can buy extended magazines as was seen in other shootings in the past that can go 30 rounds or even more. And, again, it's as quickly as you can pull the trigger. As opposed to the revolver which is only going to hold six rounds and you have to stop and re-feed in manually each of the bullets into the chamber, close it up and begin shooting again. With a semiautomatic, you fire as fast as you can go, drop that magazine, put a new one in and just keep on going.

And, again, if he had to stop and reload several times, he's probably not going to be jumped on by 5-year-olds while he's in the re-loading process. And, of course, the teachers are in the process of trying to save the children and huddle them. So, really, he's going to have no opposition physically by any of the victims while he's shooting, while he's reloading and then reshooting.

VELSHI: Tom, there are many reasons why an owner would choose a pistol over a revolver, but one of the advantages of the pistol, those two guns on the top of the screen that we are showing, one of the advantages of that is in order to reload, you can reload as you said in these cases possibly 15 rounds very instantly. You just press a button, the magazine drops out and you put another loaded magazine in. FUENTES: That's correct. You can shoot a much more rapid pace of fire with a semiautomatic pistol than you can with a revolver. And, you know, in pistols, especially the quality pistols like a Glock or Sig Sauer have become the choice of law enforcement because of that reason. They're high quality and they enable a very rapid rate of fire when in use.

VELSHI: Does it strike you as unusual that somebody would be owning these three weapons? Or is this normal for somebody who would own guns?

FUENTES: I wouldn't call it normal, but, you know, it's estimated there's 285 million guns at large in this country with a population of a little over 300 million. So there's a lot of guns, there are handguns, there's assault rifles, there's a variety of weapons that are out there, and are perfectly legal to acquire as we've seen.

And in this case, if the mother, I'm sorry, acquired the weapons, and acquired them legally, then you don't have the situation of mentally disturbed child going through the testing or going through any kind of background check, let's say, to get the weapon. He just takes her weapons and uses them against her and the other victims in this case.

VELSHI: And Connecticut does have some of the stricter gun laws in this country.

Tom Fuentes, thanks. We'll check in with you through the course of the morning. Tom Fuentes, formerly of the FBI.

Twenty-six lives cut short after doing something so routine, going to work and going to school. We are trying to find out more information about the victims.

You're watching our coverage live from Connecticut.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: I want to welcome you back to a somber morning. A special coverage of the Connecticut school shooting. I'm Ali Velshi here in Newtown, Connecticut, near the scene of the attack on an elementary school. It's just behind me over that ridge which left 20 children dead and six adults.

In less than an hour, around 8:00 Eastern this morning, we are expecting police right here to release the names of the victims killed inside Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Let's check in now with Nick Valencia in the CNN Center in Atlanta.

Nick, we know the school principal was one of the adults killed, along with the school psychologist. I'm hearing you just got off the phone with another teacher who was there when it happened. Tell us what she said.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Ali. I just spoke to a teacher, one of the music teachers, who is being called a hero at Sandy Hook Elementary School. It's reported that she barricaded herself along with a group of children while the suspected gunman knocked on the door trying to get in. I spoke to her earlier this morning from her home in Seymour, Connecticut.

She told us, Ali, it's a little bit too hard to talk right now. But her prayers and thoughts are with her friends and families of those that lost loved ones -- Ali.

VELSHI: Oh, wow. What else have you got on victims, Nick?

VALENCIA: Well, as you mentioned, Ali, 26 people died in all in Newtown, Connecticut, yesterday.

Six of those adults, one of them is 56-year-old Mary Sherlock. She was the school psychologist. And there's no doubting her success, Ali, she'd been through three school systems before landing at Sandy Hook Elementary School where she was a fixture there in the Education Department. A lot of people remember her as being the person they would go to during crisis situations. So, you know, she's not around now -- the person that people would turn to in a situation like this.

We're hearing she was in a meeting yesterday with the principal and vice principal along with another parent who spoke to CNN yesterday on Friday. They told us they heard the loud pop, pop, pops coming from the gun in the hallway. They went to investigate and tried to figure out what the noise was, Sherlock and the principal perished, they didn't come back alive.

Ali, we know that Mary Sherlock, 56 years old, was an expert in psychology with a masters from Southern Connecticut State University. She also worked in the community at a group home for disabled adults. And as I mentioned, she was part of that school's crisis intervention team.

Sherlock was also a family woman, married for 31 years, Ali. She leaves behind her husband Bill, along with two daughters, both in their 20s. She lists among her activities that she liked -- her hobbies, she liked to garden, spend time at the lake and go to the theater. She won't be able to do any of that anymore -- Ali.

VELSHI: Twenty-six people killed, many more shattered families, hundreds in this community are reeling this morning as they wake up. And they're going to learn more very, very shortly. The names of those victims, those 20 kids, 18 of them killed in the school, two more died in hospital. There is one person still wounded.

Nick, we'll stay with you this morning as you learn more through the course of it. Nick Valencia at the CNN Center in Atlanta.

Let's go back to John Berman. He's here in Newtown, Connecticut, with me at another site -- John.

BERMAN: Good morning, Ali. I'm standing in front of the church where last night there was a vigil. More than 1,000 people gathered here where I am to grieve together, to be together, to mourn those lost. So many of the people here, though, asking questions, not just questions about what happened and why, but what to do next. Parents, teachers, an entire nation right now still struggling to grasp how a gunman could take so many innocent lives at an elementary school -- an elementary school.

So how do you talk to your child? Your child about what happened?

Our Lisa Sylvester spoke to some experts.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If there's an image that sums up this story, it is this. Any parent out there can relate. Psychiatrist Charles Raison is in the University of Arizona College of Medicine.

DR. CHARLES RAISON, PSYCHIATRIST, UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: How do you wrap your mind around something like this? With a good deal of heartbreak and with the understanding that it's going to take a while. And that there will be people that were closely impacted by this who will never wrap their minds around this.

You know, human minds are not infinite. And you know, this is now appearing to be probably the worst schoolyard catastrophe in history. And so, there's going to be a huge, long-term fallout for this that is also going to also impact people's emotional well-being. And we need to gear ourselves up for that fallout, because it's coming because this is a horrible thing.

SYLVESTER: The news out of Newtown is traumatic for parents and for children. This happened at a school where kids are supposed to feel safe.

RAISON: How do you explain this to children?

Well, again, it depends on the age of the child, but I think simple, forthright explanations are the best. And I think one of the things that I tell children is, there are some bad people in the world. And sometimes bad people do really terrible things.

And a terrible thing has happened, and there have been some children killed. And this is terrible. But you're safe. And, you know -- you're safe, and you're in a situation now where you're not going to be harmed.

SYLVESTER: The American Academy of Pediatrics offers this advice. Take into account the age of the child and provide basic information without offering details that may only alarm them. Ask your children what they already know and answer questions. Parents can share their own feelings and the ways they're coping and find meaningful ways to help others.

RAISON: Children are resilient, and what really matters now is how we help them understand what's happened but even, I think, more important is the sense of protection and safety that we give them starting this moment and for the next weeks and months.

SYLVESTER: For those who witnessed, those children who saw, those who covered their eyes and ears to shut out the horror, they need time, love, and prayers.

(on camera): President Obama said it that parents are going to go home, hug their children, and even to process this as a nation. That's just going to take time.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELSHI: Lisa Sylvester.

We'll bring you much more on the school shooting tragedy here in Newtown, Connecticut, in just a moment.

But first, let's go to CNN's Victor Blackwell at the CNN Center in Atlanta for the latest on other stories in the headlines.

Good morning, Victor.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Ali.

A controversial referendum is underway in Egypt right now. President Mohamed Morsi headed to the polls today to vote on a new constitution for his country. Now, he has urged Egyptians to support it, but some opposition parties want them to reject it. They fear this will consolidate Islamist power and they say it tramples on civil rights.

The United States has given the go ahead to send Patriot anti- ballistic missiles to Turkey, along with 400 troops to operate them. Now, this means the U.S. forces for the first time will be in direct position to take action against the Assad regime in Syria next door. But officials say the surface-to-air missiles are for defensive purposes only.

And this man may soon return to power as Japan's next prime minister. He is Shinzo Abe, the head of Japan's liberal Democratic Party. Voters head to the polls this weekend to pick the new parliament, and Abe's party is expected to win. And Japan's next government will face a struggling economy and heightened tensions with China and North Korea.

In London, a mass has just been held at Westminster cathedral for the nurse who apparently killed herself after she transferred that prank call from an Australian radio station regarding the duchess of Cambridge. Her name is Jacintha Saldanha. Her family attended the mass.

Her children say there is now an unfillable void in their lives. Saldanha was found hanged last week and her death sparked an international outcry.

Let's go back now to CNN's Ali Velshi in Newtown, Connecticut -- Ali.

VELSHI: Thanks, Victor.

As a fact, the tragedy emerged yesterday, 20 parents had some of the hardest news to hear, 20 children killed in a violent shooting spree. We're going to have a look at how it all unfolded, starting with the first call to police and, of course, in about 30 minutes, we are expecting the names of the victims to be announced at a news conference.

Stay with CNN. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Bottom of the hour now, 7:30 a.m. Eastern Time in Newtown, Connecticut. Welcome, and welcome to our international viewers, joining us from around the world.

I'm Ali Velshi. You are watching CNN's special coverage of the Connecticut school shooting. We are live in Newtown, Connecticut.

Here's what we know this morning about what happened at Sandy Hook Elementary School. In about 30 minutes, we expect authorities to hold a news conference right where I am and release the identities of the victims.

Police say 20 children between the ages of five and 10 were killed as well as six adults at the school including the principal and psychologist. Police identify the suspect as 20-year-old Adam Lanza. Sources say he was armed with three guns, two on him, one found in a car nearby. He wore fatigues and a military vest.

Police say he got the guns from his mother who owned them. She was licensed to have them. She was found dead in her home about 2 1/2 miles from where I am now.

As information trickled in yesterday, every new detail helped paint a picture of a horrifying tragedy.

CNN's Anderson Cooper explains how it unfolded moment by moment.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All units, the individual I have on the phone is continuing to hear what he believes to be gun shots.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The first word was chilling. It only got worse.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They were reporting multiple fatalities involved in the shooting at the elementary school.

COOPER: With each new report, the horror deepened.

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The reports say the number of dead closer to 30 than to 20, and sadly most of them are children. COOPER: Every detail, every fact brought more sadness. Each fresh piece of information a part of the picture, a school, kindergarten through fourth grade, a sanctuary that was supposed to be a place of safety torn apart.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She heard the intercom come on the school and heard a scream and heard a gunshot. Two gunshots. And then the school went into lockdown.

COOPER: A student's teenage big brother describing the sounds of gunmen on the loose at Sandy Hook Elementary.

LT. J. PAUL VANCE, CONNECTICUT STATE POLICE: On and off duty troopers responded and with Newtown police immediately upon arrival entered the school and began a complete shooter's search of the building.

COOPER: They arrived to carnage. The killer, says the law enforcement's source with detail knowledge, was dressed for battle in black fatigues and armed for mass murder, with two pistols and a military-style rifle. In parts of the school, students were told to hide in corners. Teachers risked their own lives to pull boys and girls to safety.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So grateful to the teacher who saved him.

REPORTER: OK. The teacher -- you think the teacher saved his life?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She definitely did. He had bullets going by him and she grabbed him and another child and pulled them into a classroom.

COOPER: Eventually, the kids were evacuated into a nearby firehouse where frantic parents descended.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, it's terrifying. I'm still terrified. I think I'm still in shock about of it all. I still don't know everything that happened. I know that there are some people missing that have been taken to the hospital.

COOPER: His son was OK. His son's teacher was alive as well. Twenty other children and six adults were killed. The dead believed to include Sandy Hook's school psychologist and the principal.

Police discovered another adult victim, the gunman's mother, reportedly at home in Newtown. The gunman too is dead. Police say they fired no shots. A tight knit community including a nurse who lived nearby rushed to help, shock and distraught.

REPORTER: That you, even cried.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER: Is it because of what you saw?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One of the cops said, you know, the worst thing he had ever seen in his entire career, but when they told the parents, all these parents were waiting for their children to come out. They thought they were, you know, still alive. There was 20 parents who were told their children are dead. It was awful.

COOPER: Awful. And late today speaking for the nation, but also as a father, an emotional President Obama fought back tears.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This evening Michelle and I will do what I know every parent in America will do, which is hug our children a little tighter and we'll tell them we love them and we'll remind each other how deeply we love one another.

But, there are families in Connecticut who cannot do that tonight. And they need all of us right now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: For more information about how you can help those affected, go to CNN.com/impact.

So as the minutes tick by, the weight of the shooting tragedy got heavier and heavier. First, word of the shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, then the magnitude. Reports of 26 people killed, 20 of them children, ages 5 to 10 years old -- news strong enough just to knock the wind right out of you. And for many of us, it really, really did.

That was likely the same case for police who were at the scene. There were grief counselors not just for the families, but also for the first responders. Investigators, despite the sickness and sadness of it all, they had to keep on doing their jobs.

Joining me right now is security analyst Mike Brooks.

First of all, Mike, I have to ask you, how do investigators at a scene like this, how do they deal with their jobs while the scope of the tragedy is just staring them in the face?

MIKE BROOKS, SECURITY AND LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: You know, John, law enforcement, first responders, they are all human also. And many of them have young like were killed there in the school.

But you have to basically kind of compartmentalize that and know that you are there to do a job. It's very, very hard. In fact, we heard the lieutenant from Connecticut state police, Lieutenant Vance, say they were getting help for the first responders, for the law enforcement officers who were there who were the first ones in. They were getting them psychological help, if they did need it.

And I think that's important they do have crisis intervention teams there to do on scene diffusing and later to do a full critical incident stress debriefing should it happen, because, John, these are the people while they're processing that scene, they can't look away.

BERMAN: So, like walk me through the logistics of what's been happening likely over the last eight hours. We've been saying one of the truly sad things is the bodies of the kids were still there overnight. The victims are still lying there. The suspected shooter dead believed to be obviously. It is a crime scene, though, so what are investigators looking for at this point?

BROOKS: They are looking for any little piece of evidence that needs to be gathered. They're taking photographs, they're videotaping. They're doing diagrams. You figure you have -- a major scene with over 26 deaths, John.

That is just an unbelievable scene. I've worked bombing scenes where there have been thousands of people injured, hundreds of people killed, but you have little kids and, still, it's very difficult. But they've got a job to do. Yes, the shooter is dead, the alleged shooter is dead. Is there anyone else involved in this? We don't know for sure.

But it's the law enforcement's job to go in there and do a thorough and accurate accounting of exactly what happened. There's so much evidence inside that school, outside the school possibly, his car. And then the identification of the children because they have done a preliminary identification, they know who these children are. The parents knew who they are. They had law enforcement assigned to them to keep them up to date.

But, by law, they have to do an identification, a thorough -- a positive identification of who these children are. And we're probably going to hear about that this morning. But, again, just a tough job for law enforcement, the first responders, fire, EMS, and these crime scene technicians from the Connecticut state medical examiner's office who have been in there all night documenting every little bit of evidence they find.

BERMAN: So, Mike, let's rewind a little bit to the moments after it begins to happen. And what the police, what the first responders are trained to do. And let me ask you about this -- because people have been asking me about this question over the last several hours -- evacuation versus lockdown, what's the right way for the school to handle it? Is it to get the kids out right away, or is it to stay in place and get them to a safe place in the classroom?

BROOKS: Well, they train for these things. We know they had their annual evacuation drill back in October here at Sandy Hook Elementary School, John. But it's what the situation dictates.

We've heard so many stories now of teachers pulling kids out of the hallways and sheltering in place, if you will, while they waited for law enforcement to come, law enforcement came, one teacher still didn't think it was really law enforcement asked to see their badges, slid their badge under the door. And they said if you need it, if you really are law enforcement, you can open the door with the key, they did and got the children out.

I was listening, John, yesterday to the Connecticut State Police frequency while all this was happening, while units were responding to the scene and have been listening to some of the first units from Newtown police that were there. And, you know, you train for an active shooter scenario, but you hope you never have to use it. But it sounds, John, that these first responders, the law enforcement, when they went in, they knew exactly what they had to do. And their job was to make sure these kids were safe, that these kids were either hunkered down, but they were going after that gunman and try to neutralize this person.

But we heard that law enforcement did not fire a shot. But the coordination between law enforcement, fire, and EMS sounded like it was textbook, even though there were so many victims inside that school.

BERMAN: All right. Mike Brooks, thank you so much for being with us this morning. The investigation into this or horrific scene, this awful tragedy, it does continue.

Meanwhile, she is being remembered as caring, someone who loved her students. We're going to have more on the principal who lost her life in this tragic Connecticut school shooting.

But first, while investigators families and the nation try to make sense of this entire situation, we will be talking about the victims, the victims of this tragedy, who they are, and we'll piece together some moments of their lives. We'll be right back.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LT. PAUL VANCE, CONNECTICUT STATE POLICE: This is a very, very tragic, tragic scene for everybody. Certainly our hearts are broken for the families here.

JANET VOLLMER, TEACHER, SANDY HOOK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: Well, you know, about 9:30, 9:40, we heard noises, and the announcement system was still on, so it didn't go off. So you could hear what sounded like pops, gun shots.

DENISE CORREIA, PARENT: Her teacher managed to take two children out of the hallway, pull them into the classroom, lock the door and move everybody to the other side of the room.

FATHER GEORGE WEISS, ST. ROSE OF LIMA PARISH: We just told the little boy about his sister now. Who am I going to play with, he said? I have nobody to play with now. Excuse me.

AIMEE SEAVER, PARENT: When your first grader goes to bed and says, mommy, is anyone from my class last year? Are they all OK? Are they all OK? And you look at them and say I'm not really sure.

GOV. DAN MALLOY (D), CONNECTICUT: You can never be prepared for this kind of incident. What has happened, what has transpired at that school building, will leave a mark on this community and every family impacted.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) VELSHI: To our viewers in the United States and around the world, this is CNN. We are live in Newtown, Connecticut, this morning.

This sad Saturday morning where an unspeakable tragedy, a school shooting that claimed the lives of 20 children and six adults has rocked this town to its core. Earlier, I spoke with the father of one child who survived the shooting, listened to what he had to say to John Berman about his daughter is coping. We'll actually talk to -- we'll hear from him in just a moment.

The first thing I want to do, though, is go to Nick Valencia, because nick is working on information about the victims of this tragedy.

We spent some time talking about the shooter. But we are really worried about the victims. Eighteen children and six adults were shot on-site. Another two children died in hospital.

Let's go to Nick Valencia at the CNN Center in Atlanta.

Nick, two of the adults inside the school have been identified. What do we know about them?

NICK VALENCIA, NATIONAL DESK ASSIGNMENT EDITOR: And, Ali, as you mentioned all morning, this story really is about the victims. Two of the names that we know so far, two of the adults, six adults were shot in all, two names that we have been able to confirm, Dawn Hochsprung, she was the principal at Sandy Hook Elementary School since 2010.

She's described, Ali, as someone you would want educating your children. She's sort of the teacher's teacher. She was very involved educator, memorable for her enthusiasm and that wonderful smile you see there.

She spent her career rising through the ranks of the Connecticut education system, working in various elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools. Those that know her and knew her remember her as somebody who created an environment that made you feel accepted, made you feel important. She was just 47 years old, Ali. And she leaves behind two daughters and three stepdaughters.

Also, one of the adult victims we are learning is Mary Sherlock, 56 years old. She was the school psychologist and she headed up the crisis intervention program for the school. Those that knew her say she was a person that people would go to in a time like this and now they can't turn to her. She's lost. She's perished, one of the 26 victims of the school shooting in Sandy Hook elementary school.

She's remembered as somebody who was an expert in psychology. She had her master's degree from Southern Connecticut State University. She was also very involved in the community, Ali. She worked with disabled adults in the community there in Connecticut.

Her -- she was a family woman, as well. We learned a lot about her from some personal posts where she wrote she enjoyed gardening, going out to the theater. She also leaves behind some family members. Thirty years she was married to her husband Bill. She also leaves behind two daughters, both in their 20s -- Ali.

VELSHI: Nick, I don't know if we've got the pictures at CNN, but right next to me, we are setting up for the press conference which should start in about 15 minutes or so or less. We are everybody's getting ready. That's where we're expecting -- we were told last night at 8:00 Eastern that starting at 8:00 Eastern this morning, we would start to get more information about the victims.

So, we're going to be waiting on that and I know that's going to keep you very busy when that happens.

But one of the first people we heard from yesterday on CNN was a parent who was with both of the principal -- both of those people you just talked about in the school when the gunman opened fire. What did that parent say?

VALENCIA: Just a terrifying, terrifying story, Ali. We understand that some time after 9:30 there at Sandy Hook Elementary, the principal, Dawn Hochsprung, and the school psychologist, Mary Sherlock, were there along with the vice principal and a parent who CNN spoke to, at which point they heard a loud pop, pop, pop, which, of course, was the gunfire coming from the suspected gunman.

They went into the hallway, Ali, to investigate what was going on. Both Sherlock and Hochsprung did not return.

VELSHI: All right, Nick, we'll stay with you throughout the course of the morning as you learn more. You'll be watching as we will very closely in just a few moments. It's going to be a very, very important news conference happening right next to me.

John Berman is in Newtown, Connecticut, with me. He's at the town square.

John, this is going to be devastating in a few minutes, because there are many in this town who know they have their children many in town that know 20 children and six adults were killed. But there are many in this town who have not heard the names, they do not know who those people are.

And some time after the next 10 or 15 minutes, they're going to hear that name, and those names, and that is going to open up a whole new set of wounds for this town, wounds that have hardly even had a chance to start healing since last night.

It's going to be a tough time in the next few minutes, John.

BERMAN: I think you're absolutely right, Ali. I think those names are going to make this reality all the more painful for the people here.

I'm standing in front of, by the way, the St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church where there was a vigil. More than 1,000 people in this community gathered here to be together, to grieve together. So many of the people here knew people who were at the school, so many people here directly affected by what went on.

Earlier, I spoke to the father of one child who survived the shooting. And it was a tough conversation. Listen to what he had to say about how his daughter is coping with the situation now and how he found out what was going on.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DECLAN PROCACCINI, FATHER (via telephone): She's doing surprisingly well after what she saw.

BERMAN: How did this go down for you yesterday? When did you first get word that something horrible was happening at the school? What did they tell you and what did they ask you to do?

PROCACCINI: I work an hour-plus away and my wife called me to say there was a shooting. She had already rushed to the school to get my daughter, they made their way to the firehouse. I was able to get to the firehouse eventually and at that time it was just too early. We had no idea about all the children and the fact of who had died.

BERMAN: You knew your daughter was okay, though, correct?

PROCACCINI: Thank God we knew she was OK and just gave her a big hug and just got her out of there.

BERMAN: And, Declan, so many parents across the country, including me, frankly, want to know how to talk to our kids about this. Our kids didn't go through this. Has your daughter asks you any questions about what happened?

PROCACCINI: Well, that's the very difficult question. You know, this is all new. So all we really can do, and I think is the best thing, is to be honest and let her know what we know. Try to talk to them and try to reinforce that the bad guy that did this is gone forever, because, of course, all they are talking about is not wanting to go to school again, both of my children.

I have a 10-year-old who was in another school on lockdown as well. And they are just really, really freaked out -- as you can imagine.

BERMAN: Absolutely. They are talking to you. They don't want to go back to school again.

Did you daughter tell you anything about what it was like to be in the school as this was happening?

PROCACCINI: She was in her reading class, and it was a separated class with just, usually there's just a few kids in there, and she heard a bunch of banging, what sounded like hammering, she said. And her teacher, her reading teacher, grabbed my daughter as well as a fellow teacher that was in the reading room, and actually locked them in the bathroom and they just heard lots of shots.

I think my daughter said she heard screaming and eventually the police were banging on the door and were able to escort them into the hallway, get them out towards, unfortunately, where from what I understand, where most of the shootings happened, which is a pretty rough scene from what I understand from what my daughter told me. And then they were able to whisk them away to the firehouse. And I believe my daughter, from what she tells me, was the first kid to get to the firehouse.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: That was Declan Procaccini, he was -- he is the father of an 8-year-old girl who survived this horrible, horrible event. He's talking to her all through this weekend, and his 10-year-old son with so many questions.

The saddest thing he told me as you heard in that interview right there his kids say they don't want to go back to school.

As family and friends try to come to grips with this tragedy, many are turning to their faith for answers. CNN's Anderson Cooper asked a local church leader how he helps the people in mourning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WEISS: What can you really say? Many of them just said to me, thank you for being here with us. We pray together, we hugged each other there, were a lot of tears, and certainly a lot of emotion. And I don't really think it has settled into their lives that their child has been taken from them.

I must say for the parents I spoke with today, there was a tremendous amount of love for these children. And I know the days ahead are going to be very, very difficult and we as a community, certainly as a church community, will be present to them.

But the words, what can you say at a time like this?

COOPER: There are probably a lot of parents wrestling around the country and around the world right now, with what are they going the say to their children who ask them questions about this? What will you recommend for people to say to their kids, not kids from Newtown who were at the school, but just who hear about this and want to know, are they safe about what happened?

WEISS: You know, I think that's the one thing you have to ensure them about. Some circumstances are beyond any human control. But, you know, we have to teach the children to trust.

You know, I know it's a difficult world in which we live and it's very difficult to trust everyone, but they have to have faith. And they have to have faith in God and faith in each other. And I hope that these parents will certainly learn from this -- once again, the value of family and keep priorities straight. These children need to know that they are loved, they need to know that they're in environments where that can be safe and an environment to grow up to be productive citizens.

I don't know how you take the fear out of a child's heart except by love, and these children today were certainly deeply loved by their parents.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: About 1,000 people in the Newtown community packed this church for a vigil inside and outside. Some people were crying there, were hugs and so many people praying for the lives of those who were lost.

So many of the survivors, obviously, are still in shock today, but at least one of the teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School kept her cool even after hearing the gunshots. Janet Vollmer also spoke to Anderson Cooper.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLLMER (via telephone): About 9:30, 9:40, we heard announcements and the announcement system was still on. So you could hear what sounded like pops, gunshots, of course I'm not going to tell that to 5-year- olds. So I said to them, well, we are going over to a safe area and we are going to, you know, we read a story and we kept them calm. We did a lockdown drill and closed the doors, locked and covered the windows, you know, kept the children with us.

I have other adults in my --

COOPER: I find that amazing -- I find that amazing, fearing that you hear gunshots, you were able to have the composure to sit down to read to your students. I mean, that's extraordinary.

VOLLMER: That's what you have to do with 5-year-olds because you can't lose it. I've been doing this for a long time. It's my 18th year of teaching and my job was to keep them safe. I didn't know -- there was no announcement of what was going on.

My instinct was it wasn't good. We kept them calm and stayed in the room until there was banging at the door, which were the police and the troopers and whoever was there. And they had us exit the building.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: It's our job to keep them safe, she said. We also heard from another teacher inside her classroom during this awful morning.

In an interview with ABC News, first grade teacher Kaitlin Roig describe what she told her students as they heard the gunshots.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAITLIN ROIG, TEACHER AT SANDY HOOK ELEMENTARY: I need you to know I love you very much and it is going to be OK, because I thought that was the last thing we're ever going to hear. I thought we were all going to die. You know, I don't know if that's OK, you know, teachers, I want them to know someone loved them and I wanted that to be one of the last things they heard. Not the gunfire in the hallway. It was so horrible.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BERMAN; So many of us look to teachers as heroes all the time, frankly, but many parents last night were thankful for the brave teachers, especially thankful for helping get their children to safety.

One daughter spoke to her mother about what it was like inside the Sandy Hook Elementary School. Her mother shared that story with Anderson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DENISE CORREIA, DAUGHTER ATTENDS SANDY HOOK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: She did mention that she did, of course, hear gunshots. They were on the same floor. She, her teacher, managed to take two children out of the hallway, pull them into the classroom, lock the door and move everybody over to the other side of the room.

When -- you know, it was very confusing, as it would be in any of these cases, to go and pick up your child once we figured out that everybody was dispatched to Sandy Hook Elementary. I was one of the first parents there, is along with a friend of mine. We both figured out what was going on and ran over there.

They were very smart to get them out of the building and moved them over to the firehouse, but you could see that my daughter's teacher was visibly upset as well as many of the children there. And she did a very heroic thing. She pulled two kids out of the hallway and just shoved them the class and locked that door up.

And, you know, the kids are going to suffer from this. I mean, like everything else. It's a psychological event that's going to take time for healing. And as long as everyone gets the proper help, you know, it's not something you shake off very easily and certainly not for little people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: I'm listening right now to the town bells ringing here in Newtown, Connecticut. I'm not sure why they are ringing but this community has come together to mourn together for this tragedy that happened at the school here.

We've got much more ahead on our special coverage of the Connecticut school shooting which starts right now.