Connecticut shootings

Shy, awkward, lonely: the picture emerging of gunman Adam Lanza is all too familiar. But do we really know what makes people carry out such horrendous shooting sprees? Channel 4 News investigates.

The shooting in Connecticut has shocked the world, but it has devastated those familiar with the “Dawson’s Creek” town of Newtown, says Hannah Litman, who spent idyllic childhood summers there.

A New York firm run by political figures, including ex-vice president Dan Quayle, is selling gun maker Freedom Group after one of its rifles is believed to have been used in the Newtown massacre.

Rich and powerful, it holds Congress in its sway. But after the murder of 20 young children in Newtown, Connecticut, can the gun lobby still hold out against more stringent controls?

Addressing a vigil for the 26 victims of the Connecticut shootings, the President Obama says the United States is not doing enough to protect its children.

As the funerals begin in the Connecticut town where 26 died in an elementary school massacre, Barack Obama pledges to use “whatever power” he has to prevent further such shootings.

Richard Feldman, of the Independent Firearm Owners Association, wants guns kept away from “those who should not have them”. But commentator David Corn says the US problem with gun violence is unique.

As the names of the 26 victims of one of America’s worst ever school shootings are revealed, US President Barack Obama travels to Connecticut to join the mourning.

Gun control is the issue which always reminds me that we in Britain are less like the Americans than we often think. Try talking to a pro-gun American and each will think the other is crazy.

The gunman who shot dead 20 children used a rifle to fire at victims multiple times after forcing his way into Sandy Hook school, a medical examiner and police reveal.

President Obama describes the “beautiful little kids” killed in America’s worst ever school shooting in Connecticut. “Our hearts are broken,” he added, “we’ve been through this too many times”.

“Evil visited this community today”, Connecticut’s governor told a nation traumatised by the slaughter of children. A tearful President Obama has promised “meaningful action” on guns.

Medical examiner Dr H Wayne Carver tells a press conference that all the bodies of children he has seen belong to first graders who were all shot more than once at close range.