Victoria Soto, a young teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary School, displayed astonishing bravery and sacrificed her life saving as many children in her first grade class as she could after she came face-to-face with gunman Adam Lanza.
Victoria Soto, 27, had worked at for five years at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Her final moments were spent ushering her students into a closet when Adam Lanza entered her classroom and she tried her best to shield the children from the evil gunman.
She was a highly regarded young teacher who was popular with her pupils. One young student, Jacob Riley, said that Victoria Soto was known for chewing gum in class – something not usually allowed for teachers. He said he had often teased her about her habit and she had playfully teased him back.
“She took her kids, put them in the closet and by doing so she lost her life protecting those little ones,” Victoria Soto’s cousin, Jim Wiltsie, told ABC News.
“She was found huddled over her children, her students, doing instinctively what she knew was the right thing. I’m just proud that Vicki had the instincts to protect her kids from harm,” he continued.
“It brings peace to know that Vicki was doing what she loved, protecting the children and in our eyes she’s a hero,” he added.
Victoria Soto displayed astonishing bravery and sacrificed her life saving as many children in her first grade class at Sandy Hook Elementary School
A deeply distraught 10-year-old boy who is a former student of Victoria Soto described her as “really nice and funny”.
Three teachers were murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School trying to save their students from gunman Adam Lanza, the son of Nancy Lanza, who worked at the school.
The other two teachers have been identified as principal Dawn Hochsprung, 47, and school psychologist Mary Sherlach, 56.
Twenty-eight people died in the shooting rampage, including 20 young children between the ages of five and ten, alleged gunman Adam Lanza, who took his own life, and his mother, who was shot before the school massacre.
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Maryrose Kristopik, a music teacher Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, managed to save 15 children during Friday’s shooting massacre by barricading them into a closet, while gunman Adam Lanza stood outside screaming “Let me in! Let me in!”.
Maryrose Kristopik has been hailed a “hero” by parents after herding the children to safety in a closet and barricading the door to prevent Adam Lanza, 20, from entering.
An unnamed mother, in her 40s, whose 9-year-old son was among the children said: “I want to thank her. She saved their lives.
“The shooter kept banging on the door screaming: <<Let me in! Let me in!>> but he didn’t get in.
“Now I have to explain to my nine-year-old son that his friends won’t be coming back. How am I supposed to do that?”
Brenda Lebinski said her 8-year-old daughter is safe thanks to the teacher’s decision to move all kids into a closet when a gunman had entered the building.
“My daughter’s teacher is my hero,” Brenda Lebinski said.
“She locked all the kids in a closet and that saved their lives.”
Alberta Bajraliu, 41, got a call from a friend who heard a gunshot at the school and told her to check it out.
Alberta Bajraliu’s 9-year-old daughter Venesa was at the school but her two other children are not.
She said: “I was one of the first there and they were bringing children out, carrying them out. One girl came out and her face was covered in blood and she had bits of meat from other people in her hair. It was terrible.
“Another girl just looked shocked. They brought one girl out and I thought it was my daughter. They asked me: <<Does she have black trousers?>> and I said no as Venesa had jeans.
“When I saw her I just felt so relieved. She has not spoken much about what happened. She said she was in an art class and the teacher closed the door and they were waiting until they could get out.”
Music teacher Maryrose Kristopik managed to save 15 children during Connecticut massacre by barricading them into a closet
Alberta Bajraliu also paid tribute to the school’s principal Dawn Hochsprung who is believed to have been killed. She said: “She would have done anything for her children.”
Josh Milas, 21, a former pupil at the school, also paid tribute to her and said: “She loved those kids. She was a great person.”
Another hero teacher was Kaitlin Roig, who barricaded her first grade students in classroom bathroom and locked the door when she first heard gunshots.
“The kids were being so good. They asked <<Can we go see if anyone is out there?>> <<…I just want Christmas…>> <<I don’t want to die, I just want to have Christmas>>. I said, <<You’re going to have Christmas and Hanukkah… I tried to be positive>>.”
Adam Lanza opened fire inside the Connecticut elementary school where his mother worked Friday, killing 26 people, including 18 children, and forcing students to cower in classrooms and then flee with the help of teachers and police.
The massacre is the nation’s second-deadliest school shooting, exceeded only by the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007, which left 32 people and the gunman dead.
Parents flooded to Sandy Hook Elementary School, about 60 miles northeast of New York City, looking for their children in the wake of the shooting. Students were told to close their eyes by police as they were led from the building.
A photo taken by The Newtown Bee newspaper showed a group of young students – some crying, others looking visibly frightened – being escorted by adults through a parking lot in a line, hands on each other’s shoulders.
Students and staff were among the victims, state police Lt. Paul Vance said a brief news conference. He also said the gunman was dead inside the school, but he refused to say how many people were killed.
A law enforcement official briefed on the shooting said the gunman died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound and that one of the victims was the man’s mother, a teacher. The official wasn’t authorized to speak about the investigation.
The attacker was a 20-year-old man armed with a .223-caliber rifle.
Robert Licata said his 6-year-old son was in class when the gunman burst in and shot the teacher.
“That’s when my son grabbed a bunch of his friends and ran out the door,” he said.
“He was very brave. He waited for his friends.”
He said the shooter didn’t say a word.
Stephen Delgiadice said his eight-year-old daughter heard two big bangs and teachers told her to get in a corner. His daughter was fine.
“It’s alarming, especially in Newtown, Connecticut, which we always thought was the safest place in America,” he said.
Danbury Hospital was the only hospital to take in victims from the shootings, admitting three patients. Doctors said at a news conference they cleared four trauma rooms to treat shooting victims.
Mergim Bajraliu, 17, heard the gunshots echo from his home and raced to check on his 9-year-old sister at the school. He said his sister, who was fine, heard a scream come over the intercom at one point. He said teachers were shaking and crying as they came out of the building.
“Everyone was just traumatized,” he said.
Richard Wilford’s 7-year-old son, Richie, is in the second grade at the school. His son told him that he heard a noise that “sounded like what he described as cans falling”.
The boy told him a teacher went out to check on the noise, came back in, locked the door and had the kids huddle up in the corner until police arrived.
“There’s no words,” Richard Wilford said.
“It’s sheer terror, a sense of imminent danger, to get to your child and be there to protect him.”
Melissa Makris, 43, said her 10-year-old son, Philip, was in the school gym.
“He said he heard a lot of loud noises and then screaming. Then the gym teachers immediately gathered the children in a corner and kept them safe in a corner,” Melissa Makris said.
The fourth-grader told his mother that the students stayed huddled until police came in the gym. He also told her that he saw what looked like a body under a blanket as he fled the school.
“He said the policeman came in and helped them get out of the building and told them to run,” Melissa Makris said.
“And they ran to the firehouse.”
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Ryan Lanza, the brother of the Connecticut massacre gunman Adam Lanza, defended himself in a series of bizarre Facebook posts after he was mistakenly named as the killer when his ID was reportedly found at the scene.
Ryan Lanza, 24, seemed unaware that his younger brother, Adam Lanza, had gunned down 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in Newtown before taking his own life.
“Everyone shut the f*** up it wasn’t me,” Ryan Lanza insisted on his Facebook page on Friday.
“I’m on the bus home now it wasn’t me. IT WASN’T ME I WAS AT WORK IT WASN’T ME.”
The Associated Press said the mix-up came after an official mistakenly transposed the brothers’ first names, while a New Jersey reporter said Ryan Lanza told him the killer may have had his ID.
He is now being questioned by police in Hoboken, New Jersey, but police said he is not a suspect.
Adam Lanza, 20, was dressed in black military gear and a bullet proof vest when he opened fire in the principal’s office and then moving to a kindergarten classroom where his mother, Nancy, taught.
Sources told the New York Post that Adam Lanza had “had a dispute with” his mother, who was found dead at her home. He then drove to the school in her car and gunned down her kindergarten class, Fox reported.
Adam Lanza died of a self-inflicted gun wound at the scene. The Newtown Patch reported that he may have been developmentally disabled.
After Adam Lanza unleashed terror on the elementary school – the second biggest in U.S. history – the body of his father was reportedly found at their home in Newton at 2:00 p.m.
The Associated Press reported that Adam Lanza’s girlfriend and another friend are missing in New Jersey.
Ryan Lanza, the brother of the Connecticut massacre gunman Adam Lanza, defended himself in a series of bizarre Facebook posts after he was mistakenly named as the killer
Police surrounded a Hoboken apartment, believed to be the home of Ryan Lanza, on Grand Street on Friday afternoon.
According to sources, he drove to the scene of the shootings in his mother’s car and opened fire at 9:41 a.m. on Friday.
Three guns were found at the scene – a Glock and a Sig Sauer, both pistols – and a .223-caliber rifle. The rifle was recovered from the back of a car at the school. The two pistols were recovered from inside the school.
The identities of the other victims have not yet been released but include the school principal, Dawn Hochsprung, and psychologist. Two of the children died while on the way to hospital.
Robert Licata said his six-year-old son was in class when the gunman burst in and shot the teacher.
“That’s when my son grabbed a bunch of his friends and ran out the door,” he said.
“He was very brave. He waited for his friends.”
Stephen Delgiadice said his eight-year-old daughter heard two big bangs and teachers told her to get in a corner. His daughter was fine.
“It’s alarming, especially in Newtown, Connecticut, which we always thought was the safest place in America,” he said.
A dispatcher at the Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps said a teacher had been shot in the foot and taken to Danbury Hospital.
Andrea Rynn, a spokeswoman at the hospital, said it had three patients from the school but she did not have information on the extent or nature of their injuries.
Mergim Bajraliu, 17, heard the gunshots echo from his home and raced to check on his 9-year-old sister at the school. He said his sister, who was fine, heard a scream come over the intercom at one point. He said teachers were shaking and crying as they came out of the building.
“Everyone was just traumatized,” he said.
The shooting is the latest in a series of high-profile gun crimes in American schools and colleges that is especially shocking given the age of the students involved.
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