Sunday marks 13 years since Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting
Today marks 13 years since the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, on December 14, 2012. Sixteen 6-year-olds and four 7-year-olds were killed by Adam Lanza, as were the school’s principal, three teachers, a psychologist and a therapist. Lanza had earlier killed his mother, Nancy Lanza, in their home. The shooter died by suicide in one of the school’s classrooms, ending the rampage in less than 11 minutes.“This tragedy thirteen years ago is one of the worst to ever occur in Connecticut, and our hearts will forever be with the twenty innocent children who were taken all too soon and the six devoted educators who lost their lives protecting the students they heroically guarded,” Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont said in a statement directing that flags be flown at half-mast in the state. “Let this anniversary serve as a reminder of the courage and strength of our school teachers and faculty, the ongoing need to dedicate ourselves to being sources of love and humanity, and our collective responsibility to work toward a more peaceful, kind, and hopeful world.”A 2014 report by the Connecticut Office of the Child Advocate described Lanza as a young man with deteriorating mental health who had a fascination with mass shootings.The gunman used a semiautomatic rifle, and weapons found at the scene had been legally purchased by his mother. After the shooting, in April 2013, the Connecticut General Assembly passed legislation that added more than 100 firearms to the state’s assault weapons ban and created what officials called the nation’s first dangerous weapon offender registry, giving the state some of the strongest gun control laws in the country. It also changed eligibility rules for buying ammunition. In 2023, Connecticut had the sixth-lowest gun death rate among the states, according to the Giffords Law Center.Providence, Rhode Island, Mayor Brett Smiley referenced the mass shooting during a press conference on the Dec. 13, 2025, shooting at Brown University, which killed two students.”Because of the times in which we live, Sandy Hook and many other instances of violence around our country, any of us in leadership capacities have had to think about this,” Smiley said. “We have a generation of kids who have done active shooter trainings. That was not something I had to do when I was a kid. And we all, I think maybe intellectually we knew it could happen here, but that’s not the same as it happening in our community.”Sandy Hook Promise, a nonprofit group founded by family members of those killed in the shooting, posted a brief statement on the shooting at Brown.”Our hearts are with Brown University as this tragic story unfolds. We cannot allow this to keep happening. We must #EndGunViolence,” the post read. If you or someone you know needs help, you can talk with the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling or sending a text message to 988, or you can chat online here.
Today marks 13 years since the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, on December 14, 2012.
Sixteen 6-year-olds and four 7-year-olds were killed by Adam Lanza, as were the school’s principal, three teachers, a psychologist and a therapist. Lanza had earlier killed his mother, Nancy Lanza, in their home. The shooter died by suicide in one of the school’s classrooms, ending the rampage in less than 11 minutes.
“This tragedy thirteen years ago is one of the worst to ever occur in Connecticut, and our hearts will forever be with the twenty innocent children who were taken all too soon and the six devoted educators who lost their lives protecting the students they heroically guarded,” Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont said in a statement directing that flags be flown at half-mast in the state. “Let this anniversary serve as a reminder of the courage and strength of our school teachers and faculty, the ongoing need to dedicate ourselves to being sources of love and humanity, and our collective responsibility to work toward a more peaceful, kind, and hopeful world.”
A 2014 report by the Connecticut Office of the Child Advocate described Lanza as a young man with deteriorating mental health who had a fascination with mass shootings.
The gunman used a semiautomatic rifle, and weapons found at the scene had been legally purchased by his mother.
After the shooting, in April 2013, the Connecticut General Assembly passed legislation that added more than 100 firearms to the state’s assault weapons ban and created what officials called the nation’s first dangerous weapon offender registry, giving the state some of the strongest gun control laws in the country. It also changed eligibility rules for buying ammunition.
In 2023, Connecticut had the sixth-lowest gun death rate among the states, according to the Giffords Law Center.
Providence, Rhode Island, Mayor Brett Smiley referenced the mass shooting during a press conference on the Dec. 13, 2025, shooting at Brown University, which killed two students.
“Because of the times in which we live, Sandy Hook and many other instances of violence around our country, any of us in leadership capacities have had to think about this,” Smiley said. “We have a generation of kids who have done active shooter trainings. That was not something I had to do when I was a kid. And we all, I think maybe intellectually we knew it could happen here, but that’s not the same as it happening in our community.”
Sandy Hook Promise, a nonprofit group founded by family members of those killed in the shooting, posted a brief statement on the shooting at Brown.
“Our hearts are with Brown University as this tragic story unfolds. We cannot allow this to keep happening. We must #EndGunViolence,” the post read.
If you or someone you know needs help, you can talk with the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling or sending a text message to 988, or you can chat online here.
