Newtown Massacre

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Newtown Massacre

Sam Grus

        On December 14, 2012, Adam Peter Lanza forced his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Sandy Hook was filled with 456 students enrolled in kindergarten through fourth grade. Sandy Hooks doors are locked at 9:30 A.M., how did this man get into this school?

        Using a Bushmaster XM-15, Lanza shot his way through the locked glass door at the front of the school. Lanza was dressed in all black with a green vest filled with rounds for his Bushmaster XM-15. The principal and the school psychologist ran to the sources of the gunshots, and Lanza shot and killed the two women. That brings me to my first point: What if the principal had a gun? Say the gunman entered the school, all the principal would have had to do was point, aim, and shoot. Had she had the gun, many lives would have saved.

        The school practices intruder drills which helped when moving the small children throughout the classrooms without making much noise. Had Sandy Hook Elementary not practiced these drills, more lives could have been lost. One teacher hid her students in a small supply closet and told them to remain quiet while Lanza banged on the door, and yelled “Let me in!”

        After about 15 minutes of shooting and 50-100 rounds of bullets, Lanza stopped shooting. When he realized a police officer spotted him, he shot and killed himself. Students stayed in their classrooms until law officials arrived. Lanza took the lives of 26 defenseless children. Luckily, the students and teachers knew what to do in this situation.