TRAVERSE CITY -- The tragic shooting at the Connecticut elementary school is affecting people across the country. 7&4 News spoke with local parents to hear their reaction to the deadly shooting.
Mother of three Jill Niemi says, "You just can't cope with that fact, that you send your child to school to be safe and to learn, grow and thrive, and they're taken from you in that safe place. I also kept praying and thinking about the police officers and medical examiners who would have to see all of those little children in that state... no one should ever have to see that."
Mother of one Ellen Fred says," I think its a really sad situation. I think that we need to do a better job at trying to help people and help them figure out how to find healing their suffering, both for the person who committed the act and obviously we need to help the people who are mourning..."
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NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) — A man opened fire Friday inside the Connecticut elementary school where his mother worked as a teacher, killing 26 people, including 20 children, by blasting his way through two rooms as youngsters cowered helplessly in the building.
The gunman killed himself and another person was found dead at a second scene, bring the toll to 28, authorities said.
The attack, coming less than two weeks before Christmas, was the nation's second-deadliest school shooting, exceeded only by the Virginia Tech massacre that left 33 people dead in 2007.
