Gunman, 20, believed to be autistic, killed teacher mom at home before driving to elementary school in her car and shooting TWENTY SIX dead including 20 children
The gunman who today slaughtered 26 people including 20 children used his teacher mother's own guns to shoot students in her kindergarten class during his horrific killing spree at a Connecticut elementary school, it was revealed tonight.
Adam Lanza, 20, who is said to have a personality disorder, was carrying a .223 rifle and two handguns when he entered the Sandy Hook Elementary school shortly after 9.30am and started gunning people down - after he shot his mother Nancy, 52, in her face at her nearby home.
Witnesses say he was going from room-to-room shooting people after first killing the principal Dawn Hochsprung and psychologist execution-style in the main office.
Officials said most of the slaughter occurred in two classrooms, and one entire class is unaccounted for.
Parents who have not been united with their children are assuming the worst. One witness told WCBS: '(Police) just told us everyone presumed missing is in the school and they are dead.'
Students described being ushered from their classrooms hand-in-hand, with their eyes closed, to the safety of a nearby fire station as police converged on the school.
Adam's brother Ryan, 24, who was originally thought to have been the shooter, is being questioned by police after he was arrested at his home in Hoboken, New Jersey.
He was on a bus on his way home from work when he was being named as the gunman and posted on Facebook that it wasn't him.
He told a friend he believed his mentally disabled brother did it. Adam is believed to be autistic.
Another relative told ABC Adam had been 'obviously not well' and Beth Israel, tonight tweeted that her daughter went to school with him and he was 'troubled for a long time'.
Alex Israel spoke to CNN about how she went to school with Adam and she described him as fidgety, and a quiet loner who kept to himself.
She also said he was a highly intelligent student, 'above the rest of us'.
But she said he was never violent.
She tweeted earlier in the day that he was 'crazy'.
The gunman's father Peter Lanza, who is divorced from his wife, lives in Stamford, Connecticut, and declined to comment this evening after police performed a welfare check on him.
Neighbors said he recently remarried.
Mr Lanza learned of the tragic and senseless massacre by reporters who had flocked to his home.
He arrived shortly after police left and asked what the problem was.
The Stamford Connecticut said his expression shifted from patient to surprise to horror.
Newtown was once named one of the safest places to live in America and before this morning, there had been one murder in a decade.
The President addressed a stunned nation five hours after the shooting and openly wept as he spoke of the mindless shooting saying: 'Our hearts are broken today.'
Seldom has a head of state expressed greater public emotion in modern times.
Obama struggled for words, pausing several times as he wiped away tears saying, 'This evening, Michelle and I will...hug our children a little tighter, and we'll tell them that we love them.'
Lanza is believed to have shot himself at the scene, according to the New York Times.
He was carrying three weapons including two handguns and a rifle and was wearing a bullet-proof vest, a mask and black military gear.
Alex Israel said Adam Lanza was a loner who kept to himself
Three guns were found at the scene - a Glock and a Sig Sauer, both pistols - and a .223-caliber rifle.
The rifle was recovered from the back of a car at the school. The two pistols were recovered from inside the school. They were legally registered to Nancy Lanza.
A number of children were found hiding in closets in the school five hours after the shooting.
One mother told CBS that her child said there were bullets 'whizzing by' him in the hallway and that a teacher pulled him into a classroom. It was said to have been like a 'war zone'.
Speaking inside the St Rose of Lima church in Newtown tonight, Governor of Connecticut Dan Malloy said: 'In the coming days and in the coming weeks, I will pray that you all embrace one another that you lift one another up, that you understand the difficulties that you collectively will undergo.
'Keep in your prayers the children who lost their lives today, keep in your prayers the adults who lost their lives today.'
Mayor Bloomberg said tonight that immediate action must be taken over gun laws in the U.S.
He said: 'We heard after Columbine that it was too soon to talk about gun laws. We heard it after Virginia Tech. After Tucson and Aurora and Oak Creek. And now we are hearing it again.
'For every day we wait, 34 more people are murdered with guns. Today, many of them were five-year olds. President Obama rightly sent his heartfelt condolences to the families in Newtown.
'But the country needs him to send a bill to Congress to fix this problem. Calling for ‘meaningful action’ is not enough. We need immediate action.'
The shooting is the latest in a series of high-profile gun crimes in American schools and colleges, that is especially shocking given the age of the students involved
At Ryan Lanza's home in Hoboken, New Jersey, around 20 armed state police could be seen coming out of the house having apparently searched it at around 3pm.
Ryan was then led out in cuffs. He had earlier taken to Facebook to dispel rumors that he was the shooter and told a friend he believed it was his mentally disabled brother.
A parent told MailOnline Lanza battered on a closet where 15 children and their music teacher were locked inside shouting: 'Let me in! Let me in!'
The mother, in her 40s, who declined to give her name, praised the quick-thinking actions of Maryrose Kristopik: 'I want to thank my child's music teacher. She saved their lives.
'The shooter kept banging on the door screaming: "Let me in! Let me in!" but he didn't get in.
'Now I have to explain to my nine-year-old son that his friends won't be coming back. How am I supposed to do that?'
Alberta Bajraliu 41, got a call from a friend who heard a gunshot at the school and told her to check it out.
Mrs Alberta's nine-year-old daughter Venesa was at the school but her two other children are not.
She said: 'I was one of the first there and they were bringing children out, carrying them out. One girl came out and her face was covered in blood and she had bits of meat from other people in her hair. It was terrible.
'Another girl just looked shocked. They brought one girl out and I thought it was my daughter. They asked me: 'Does she have black trousers?' and I said no as Venesa had jeans.
'When I saw her I just felt so relieved. She has not spoken much about what happened. She said she was in an art class and the teacher closed the door and they were waiting until they could get out.
Miss Bajraliu also paid tribute to the school's principal Dawn Hochsprung who is believed to have been killed. She said: 'She would have done anything for her children'.
Josh Milas, 21, a former pupil at the school, also paid tribute to her and said: 'She loved those kids. She was a great person'.
Traumatized students were seen being led out of the school crying and holding hands shortly after the shots rang out.
There were also reports that a bomb squad was being called into the school. A helicopter was flying over the scene.
Frantic parents were rushing to the school as they were advised to go to the nearby fire station with ID to pick up their children.
A witness told News8 he saw one child with a bloodied face and another with a hand injury.
The school has about 600 students from kindergarten through to fourth grade - aged between five and 11.