A GUNMAN has killed 26 people, including 20 young children, and then himself at a US school where his mother worked in one of the worst school shootings in the country’s history.
Frightened pupils who were rushed from the building by police were told to close their eyes.
“Our hearts are broken today,” President Barack Obama said, wiping his eyes during an emotional briefing from the White House.
He said the children killed in the attack at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, were aged between five and 10 years old.
He said the nation had been “through thistoo many times” and has to come togetherto take meaningful action, “regardless of thepolitics”.
A law enforcement official said the dead suspect is 20-year-old Adam Lanza, the son of a teacher at the school where the shootings occurred.
A second law enforcement official said his mother, Nancy Lanza, is presumed dead.
The first official said Adam Lanza’s older brother, 24-year-old Ryan, of Hoboken, NewJersey, is being questioned by police.
The first official said Adam Lanza died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Police lieutenant Paul Vance said the shootings took place in one section of the school in two rooms.
“There were 18 children who were pronounced dead at the school. There were two that were transported to area hospitals and pronounced dead at area hospitals. And there were six adults pronounced dead at the scene, at the school.
“The shooter is deceased in the school, there’s a great deal of work going on relative to that. That’s the reason why we have not identified him as of yet.”
He went on: “It is not a simplistic scene. We need to establish identity, we need to document the entire scene and we need to answer every single question surrounding exactly how and why this incident occurred.
Answering questions, he said there was a “secondary crime scene” in Newtown.
“There is an adult deceased at that location, I can’t discuss any further information on that at this time,” he said.
Lt Vance added that New Jersey Police were assisting their Connecticut counterparts.
Robert Licata said his six-year-old son was in class when the gunman burst in and shot the teacher.
MR Licata added: “That’s when my son grabbed a bunch of his friends and ran out the door,” he said. “He was very brave.”
Mr Licata said the gunman did not say a word.
The law enforcement official also said Ryan Lanza’s girlfriend and another friend were missing in New Jersey.
According to the official, the suspect drove to the school in his mother’s car.
Photos from the scene showed students, some of them crying, being escorted by adults through a car park in a line, hands on each other’s shoulders.
Children told their parents they had heard bangs and, at one point, a scream over the intercom.
The shooting will shock the small, tranquil community.