P-Noy mourns loss of lives in US shooting

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino joined other world leaders yesterday in expressing sympathy to and solidarity with those who lost their loved ones in a shooting incident in Newtown, Connecticut, where 20 schoolchildren were among those killed.

“At this time of the deepest mourning over the tragic loss of lives in Connecticut,” Aquino said, he, “together with the entire Filipino people, stand beside the victims and their loved ones with bowed heads, yet in deep admiration over the manner in which the American people have reached out to comfort the afflicted, and to search for answers that will give meaning and hope to this grim event.”

“We pray for healing, and that this heartbreak will never be visited on any community ever again,” Aquino said.

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said most people were horrified about what happened.

Valte said the incident was more heartbreaking since young children were the victims of the massacre.

“Our deepest condolences go out to the families, to the teachers, to the loved ones of everybody in Sandy Hook, and really nobody imagined this kind of incident. Our hearts and minds are with them, and our prayers are with them as they go through a very, very difficult time, especially since Christmas is coming,” Valte said.




The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said no Filipino was reported among the casualty in the massacre.

DFA spokesman Raul Hernandez said they had not received any report of Filipino casualty from the Philippine Consulate General in New York as of yesterday morning.

“Our post in New York is, however, still checking with US authorities and Filipino-American community to make sure if any Fil-Am is among the victims of the shooting incident,” Hernandez said.

The Philippine embassy in Washington extended its sympathy to the United States following the shooting incident, one of the worst mass shootings in US history.

The embassy, at the same time, said it is trying to make sure that there are no Filipino-Americans among the casualties in what has been described as one of the deadliest school shootings in US history.

“We join the government of the United States and the American people in mourning the loss of so many innocent lives,” Philippine Ambassador Jose Cuisia Jr. said.

“Our hearts go to the families of those who lost loved ones in this tragedy.”

News reports said the incident involved a lone gunman who opened fire inside the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, at around 9:40 a.m.

The incident left eight adults, including the gunman, and 20 students dead.  – With Pia Lee-Brago

source: philstar.com

Official: 27 dead in Conn. school shooting

A gunman opened fire inside a Connecticut elementary school 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 death toll was given to The Associated Press by an official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was still under way.

The shooting appeared to be the nation's second-deadliest school shooting, exceeded only by the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007.

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 people were killed.

Another official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation was still under way, said the gunman apparently had two guns.

A law enforcement official in Washington said the attacker was a 20-year-old man with ties to the school and that one of the guns was a .223-caliber rifle. The official also said that police were searching a location in New Jersey in connection with the shootings. That official spoke on the condition of anonymity because the source was not authorized to speak on the record about the developing criminal investigation.

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 8-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.

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," 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," 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," Makris said. "And they ran to the firehouse."

The White House said Barack Obama was notified of the shooting and his spokesman Jay Carney said the president had "enormous sympathy for families that are affected."

source: thetandd.com